


Strong Enough

by MelondramaticFruitcup



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-11-23 17:32:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11407191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelondramaticFruitcup/pseuds/MelondramaticFruitcup
Summary: Marianne Dixon, the younger half sister of Daryl, is trying to survive the end of the world like everyone else. The siblings rely on each other but will that be enough to overcome what the world throws at them? Their relationship will be tested in ways they couldn't imagine. And can she handle the new person she's becoming?





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

She always looked ready to run, muscles tense, eyes constantly wandering around, her body on full alert waiting to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. It was a lifetime of conditioning, a lifetime of shit hitting the fan at a moment's notice. If it wasn't her now deceased dad it was Merle and if it wasn't Merle then God help the person that messed with the Dixons.

Marianne felt the sweat trickle down her neck. The hot Georgian sun beat down on her as she finished cleaning the last of the blood off of their hunting knives. Daryl was busy and Merle sure as hell couldn't be bothered in his state. Marianne frowned. She seemed to always be cleaning up Merle's messes and the end of the world hadn't changed that.

Finished with her task, she looked around camp and watched everyone go about their business. The two blonde sisters, Amy and Andrea, and that boy's mom, Lori, were preparing dinner from the skinned squirrels Daryl had killed close to camp. Hunger made everyone quickly get over their reservations about eating the meat.

The three women burst out laughing and a pang of loneliness hit her but she shook it off. She wasn't lonely. She had Daryl and, for better or worse, Merle. She didn't need to get close to these people. Getting close made her weak. The less people you cared about the better in this new world, but she missed female company so she listened in.

Marianne's hearing was far better than people gave her credit for. Except for Daryl, who'd swear that she had superhuman hearing. 'Like a bat or somethin'.' So it wasn't hard to hear the conversations going on around camp and she heard plenty of complaining about 'those Dixons.'

"Guess who's looking at us?" Amy asked. Marianne glanced away but kept an ear turned towards them.

"Who?" Andrea asked.

"The Dixon sister."

"Her name is Marianne, Amy. I'm sure she'd appreciate you using it. Go on, ask her to join us. She won't bite."

"She certainly looks like she could. "

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not. That's a compliment. I wish I was as badass as her."

"I don't think she has a choice with those brothers of hers." Lori joined in on the conversation. "Imagine having to grow up with them around. It's enough to make you hard."

"Do you think they stop her from trying to get friendly with us?" Amy asked

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Marianne didn't need to hear anymore and decided she didn't need their company, so she stood up and moved to put the knives away. Marianne wasn't a social recluse like Daryl but she also wasn't a social butterfly. There had been a few close friends over the years.  _Probably all dead. I only have my brothers now. God help me._ But she didn't think God would help and it didn't matter to her, not being particularly religious.

 

* * *

 

A week had passed and she couldn't get rid of the desire to join the other women and it was still the same when she woke up that morning. Even though the sun hadn't finished rising most of the camp was awake. Marianne had always been an early riser but today was little special. For the first time, a group was going into Atlanta instead of Glenn flying solo.

Marianne had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, a larger group meant a greater risk, but on the other, more people meant more supplies were coming back. Supplies they really needed. Their group was like a plague of locusts consuming everything in sight. Rationing barely helped and in the beginning people didn't take it seriously. She didn't bother to worry too much about it since she was far from in charge. The logistics of the group's survival wasn't her problem. If need be, she'd be out of there along with her brothers. If anyone could survive on their own, it was them.

After satisfying her curiosity about the supply run, she went about her normal routine, which meant Marianne was having a peaceful morning, despite the extra noise, until Merle gave her the news.

"You're crazy and high as a kite. There's no way you're goin' to Atlanta. Unless you want to get yourself killed."

"Nothin' can kill Merle but Merle. And since when did I answer to you, little sis?"

"When you decided to act like a child."

Merle laughed.

"Daryl, back me up." Up to this point, her other brother had been very interested in the dirt under his fingernails. He shrugged.

"He's a grown man. Let him do what he wants."

Marianne scoffed. She should've expected this kind of answer. Why did she even bother in the first place? "Fine. But expect an 'I told you so' when it all goes to hell."

This time Merle scoffed. "You worry too much Annie."

"And you don't worry enough."

Merle ruffled her hair and she pushed his arm away. "You're an ass." Merle just laughed again as he walked to the car that would take him to Atlanta.

She watched the small group drive away and out of the corner of her eye she spotted Daryl shouldering his crossbow with a familiar look on his face.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Huntin'. Didn't know I needed permission."

She narrowed her eyes. "You were goin' to sneak off without saying goodbye. You can't do that anymore. Besides, I'm comin' with you."

"No you ain't. No point since Merle lost your bow."

"Don't remind me." She took a step closer to him. "I can still track."

Daryl shifted on his feet and repositioned his crossbow before looking away.

"But you want to be by yourself. I get it." She kept the disappointment out of her voice.

Daryl relaxed as much as he was capable of, looking relieved. "Ya always do."

"Be safe. I don't think I can stand Merle without you." As she watched him walk into the woods she almost changed her mind and started after him. She didn't want to be alone.

 

* * *

 

It was the first time in camp that both of her brothers were away at the same time. Marianne missed Daryl but she couldn't muster the same feelings for Merle. It was a nice break to not have to worry about his insane plan to steal supplies and sneak away in the dead of night. Thankfully this plan had stalled, but unthankfully it was because he hadn't seen a sober day in weeks. Then there was Dale keeping watch. Marianne wondered if the old man ever slept.

"Marianne?" Her thoughts interrupted, she looked up at Lori who was giving her a reassuring smile. "Would you like to join us?" Lori pointed to the picnic table where Carol was making breakfast for the kids.

"Why?" Marianne narrowed her eyes but Lori didn't back down.

"We thought, with your brothers gone, you might want some company."

Something stirred in her chest. "I know what y'all think about us. About my brothers. I'm not deaf and I'm not stupid. And I don't need your pity." Her raised voice had drawn people's attention. Camp life could be boring so everyone unabashedly listened in, most of them not trying to hide it.

"None of us think you're stupid. I apologize on behalf of everyone if we've offended you. I think we're going to be living with each other for awhile and we just want to be your friend. It'd make things easier for you."

"Who says I want easy?"

"Fair enough, but the offer still stands."

Thoughts raced through Marianne's mind as she struggled to come to a decision, to find a good enough reason to stay away. She couldn't. Lori had made a good point about living together, even if the others annoyed her more often than not.

"Fine." She stood up. "But don't expect me to talk." Lori smiled in triumph and Marianne chose to ignore it so she wouldn't change her mind just to spite the woman.

The day wore on, and despite six people being gone, there wasn't much of a difference in Marianne's day. She still worried about Merle but now with no obligation to immediately intercede because, at the moment, the distance made it physically impossible.

Marianne watched Amy, who was carrying a small red bucket, walk up to the campfire where she and Lori were sitting in companionable silence.

"Any luck?" Lori asked.

"How do we tell if they're poison?" Marianne was surprised Amy had expended time and energy on a task that, for all she knew, was worthless. She didn't know how these people were still alive. Amy dumped the mushrooms into a small metal bowl Lori was holding.

"Uh, there's only one sure way I know of." Lori stared at the mushrooms thoughtfully and picked one out of the bowl, rubbing the dirt off of it with her thumb. Marianne was ready to hit it out of her hand if Lori even contemplated eating it.

"Ask Shane when he gets back?" Amy suggested.

"Yeah, you've got it." Lori rubbed her hand on her jeans and set the bowl on the ground.

"Y'all don't need to ask Shane everything, you know." The two women looked at Marianne. "I'll take a look. The last thing I need is a camp full of people dying from poison mushrooms because a cop said it was okay."

"Thank you." With a gracious smile, Lori handed the bowl of mushrooms to Marianne and then picked up the red bucket Amy had abandoned. "I guess I'll go try my own luck out." She started to walk away, and then paused to look up at the man standing on the RV with a rifle in hand. "Dale, I'm heading out." Marianne watched her turn to look at her son. "Sweetheart, I want you to stay where Dale can see you, okay?"

"Yes, Mom." Marianne heard but couldn't see Carl. For a worried mother living during the apocalypse, she sure did leave other people to watch over him a lot lately.

"You too. Don't wander too far. Stay within shouting distance. And if you see anything, holler. I'll come running." Dale sounded sure of himself, like if anything really did happen he'd be able to make a big difference in the outcome.

"Yes, Mom." Marianne heard Lori say just low enough for Dale not to catch it and smirked at the response. She was getting sick of the men treating all of the women like the children. The last time she checked, they were all adults. Although, Marianne had to admit, the survival instincts and skills of some of these so called adults were questionable at best.

"I have a feeling she won't be coming back with too many berries." Marianne looked into the bowl of mushrooms with distaste. She hated them but would eat them anyways.

"What makes you think that?" Amy looked mildly puzzled.

She shrugged. "Nothin'."

 

* * *

 

Marianne was mending one of Daryl's raggedy shirts and instead of secluding herself at her and her brothers' tents she decided to take the task into the middle of camp.

Thunder continued to threaten rain and Dale was tinkering with his RV. "Boy, that hose isn't long for his world, is it?" This wasn't the first time he'd said that.

Marianne looked up at the graying sky, wishing there would be a break in the heat instead of the rise in humidity they were getting. It was one thing to go camping and know air conditioning would be waiting when you got home, but another to be camping knowing that electricity was now well-nigh impossible.

"No sir." Jim said, not sounding seriously interested in the predicament. Marianne wondered what he was thinking about right now. He never looked happy, but she guessed she never did either. There wasn't a whole lot to be happy with, except maybe that they weren't walking corpses.

"Where the hell are we going to find a replacement?"

"It's late. They should've been back by now." Amy suddenly said.

"Worrying won't make it better." Dale briefly looked up from his work at the pacing blonde.

"Hello, base camp!" The radio came to life and Marianne stood up, dropping the shirt in mid stitch. T-Dog's voice crackled through, floating down from the RV to everyone in camp. "Can anybody out there hear me?" Shane, Lori, and Carl came running over to the RV while Dale climbed the ladder as fast as he could.

"Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?" Dale picked up the radio.

"Hello? Hello?" He asked urgently. "Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat."

"Shane, is that you?" T-Dog instantly responded.

"Is that them?" Lori asked unhelpfully. Dale's hand, index finger pointed, jerked up slightly, signaling Lori to be quiet. Marianne climbed up the RV ladder and stood next to Dale to get an even better chance at hearing through the static.

"We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store."

"He say they're trapped?" Shane asked.

"There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded."

Dale fiddled with a dial. "T-Dog, repeat that last. Repeat." But Marianne didn't need T-Dog to repeat anything. She knew exactly what she heard and so did the old man. There was only static and the radio silence that wasn't so silent. Marianne sighed, a sick feeling settling in her stomach. An 'I told you so' wasn't looking so good anymore.

Everyone was quiet as the situation sunk in and thunder rumbled alongside the static.

"He said the department store." Lori spoke first.

"I heard it too," Dale said.

"So did I." Marianne looked down at everyone.

"Shane?" Lori asked.

"No way. We do not go after them. We do no risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that." Shane didn't sound thrilled about it. Marianne knew he was waiting for the backlash. Even though she agreed with Shane, it still didn't stop her from wanting to rescue them. If she did attempt anything it wouldn't be until Daryl came back from hunting. She didn't trust anyone else to not make a mess of a rescue effort.

"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Marianne noted how Amy was only concerned with one person. It wasn't like there were five more that were in danger too.

"Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy—"

"She volunteered to go. To help the rest of us."

"I know, and she knew the risks, right?" Shane was being infinitely more patient with Amy than Marianne could be. "See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do."

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch." Amy ran off and Marianne couldn't muster up any feelings of sympathy for the girl. She was too soft and Andrea protected her too much.

Before returning to Daryl's shirt Marianne noticed the desperate look Shane gave Lori, his need for reassurance that he did the right thing. She watched Lori give it to him and that's when she knew for sure that they were far more than friends and then she wondered why they were trying so hard to hide it.

 

* * *

 

The drive back to camp had been quiet so far. Everyone was too exhausted to hold a conversation.

"Best not to dwell on it." Morales broke the silence. "Merle got left behind." Rick glanced over at him.

"Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back…except, maybe Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick asked.

"His brother…And probably Marianne." Morales looked out the window, avoiding Rick's stare.

"Marianne?"

"His sister."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Marianne heard it first, the whooping of a car alarm echoing in the distance. It meant someone was coming and in a stolen car, no less, but was it their people? What if they were strangers? Would they need to protect themselves?

She was sitting on an overturned plastic crate in front of her tent checking that her gun was fully loaded and counting the rest of her bullets when, after minutes of hearing the car alarm, Glenn finally pulled up. Marianne stayed where she was and finished counting. She could be patient, especially since she knew Merle would turn up soon. She didn't have to worry anymore. It was when the van arrived that she made her way over to the group and stood next to Lori.

Andrea was the first to appear. Amy ran to her and the sisters hugged. Next came Morales, then Jacqui and then T-Dog trailing behind them both.

Marianne looked them over. With the exception of T-Dog's face everyone looked good. Morales' little girl ran to him and Morales picked her up. The corner of her mouth twitched in an almost smile. Marianne watched the family's happy reunion and noticed that Lori pulled Carl away. The boy looked like he was about to cry.

"You are a welcome sight," Dale said. Marianne looked expectantly at the van, waiting for Merle to appear. He sure was taking his sweet time. She knew he'd give her hell for greeting him on his return. He'd call her a lost puppy.

"I thought we had lost you folks for sure." Dale and Morales hugged.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked. Marianne wanted to know too. She bet Merle had nothing to do with it, probably did more harm than good.

"New guy," Glenn answered. "He got us out."

"New guy?" Shane looked mildly confused.

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town," Morales said. "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello." A door slammed shut. Still no Merle. Marianne's hands felt cold.

"The guy's a cop. Like you," Morales told Shane. A man in a police uniform stepped into sight and the next thing she knew Carl was yelling "Dad" and the two ran to each other and into a hug that landed them on the ground. Marianne watched another family reunion, an extremely unexpected one. She thought Lori's husband was dead. Marianne looked over at Shane to watch his reaction. He looked overwhelmed with a jumble of emotions she didn't bother to decipher.

"Sorry to break up this heartwarming reunion but where the hell is Merle?" Everyone was startled, like they had forgotten about him. "Well?"

"Uh, there was a problem," Glenn said uneasily. He couldn't look her in the eye.

"He dead?"

Glenn hesitated.

"It's a yes or no question."

"Ma'am I'm sorry about your brother but you know how he gets. He was causing trouble, putting our lives at risk. I had no choice," Rick intervened.

"No choice?"

"I handcuffed him to a pipe on the roof. We left him behind. We had no choice."

"You did what now?" She burst out laughing and watched varying degrees of alarm pop up on everyone's face. "Good lord almighty. So you're tellin' me you handcuffed my brother to a roof in this heat, left for the walkers to tear their teeth into him?"

She glared at them all and now it wasn't just Glenn who couldn't look her in the eye. "You'll want me around when you tell Daryl and I sure as hell ain't doin' your dirty work for you. Here's a tip, watch out for the knife."

Marianne stormed off to her tent. She needed to be alone before she hurt somebody, particularly the new guy.

 

* * *

 

Marianne didn't know what to do. She paced around the Dixon's campfire. No one seemed bothered that Merle was gone and nobody showed the desire to rescue him. Who would want to rescue a racist redneck anyways? She kicked the plastic crate and it tumbled over and ran into the front of her tent.

Daryl would be devastated. The thought sobered her and she looked towards the woods hoping he would appear. On second thought, she didn't hope Daryl would show up soon. Marianne knew what she was going to do and if luck was on her side she'd be back in camp with Merle before Daryl even knew what had happened. But first, she'd need a little help.

"Glenn." The young man jumped.

"Oh, hey Marianne. What's up?"

"What's up is you're gonna to tell me exactly how to get to this department store."

He rubbed the back of his head, clearly intimidated. "I guess I can do that."

"Good. I knew there was a reason I didn't dislike you." Glenn flushed.

Everything was going according to plan until Shane walked up to her while she was putting her packed bag in Daryl's old truck

"Where are you off to?"

"Who are you? My dad?" Marianne hopped into the driver's seat and went to shut the door but Shane blocked it.

"Now, Marianne, I don't think this a good idea."

"You know what's not a good idea? Chaining a man up and leavin' him to die!" She put the key in the ignition.

"It's getting late. It'll be dark soon. You can't be in Atlanta at night. It's too dangerous."

"You may be their leader but you can't tell me what to do." She tried closing the door again but Shane wouldn't budge.

"Whether you like it or not, I'm not letting you go. I'll carry you outta this truck if I have to."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me." Marianne glared at him, sizing him up. She could take him on but she couldn't take on the whole camp if they backed him up and she wouldn't put it past him to tie her up. "No one's gonna stop me. This is for your own safety."

"Fine. Be an asshole." Marianne grabbed her bag and Shane stepped aside as she got out of the truck.

"We can pick this up tomorrow."

"Screw you." Marianne slammed the truck door and knocked her shoulder into the infuriating man when she passed him.

She threw her backpack into a corner of her tent, not bothering to unpack it. She'd need it ready to go tomorrow. She sat on her cot and buried her face in her hands, which were trembling with rage. How dare Shane treat her like this? After she rescued Merle they were going to leave this group. Hell, she'd even let Merle steal a couple of things.

She heard footsteps getting closer to her. Whoever it was cast a large shadow over her tent. She waited for them to make the first move.

"Hello?" It was T-Dog. Why was he bothering her? And why now?

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you, if that's alright."

She lifted the flap of her tent and looked up at T-Dog. It didn't look like he'd go away. "Whatever you have to say make it quick. I'm not exactly in the mood for company."

T-Dog nodded. "I get it. I just wanted to tell you, about Merle… It was my fault. I dropped the damn key to the cuffs in a drain. But I chained the door. There's no way any geeks are going to get him."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, but you deserve an apology. I'm sorry." No one ever apologized to her. Not unless they accidently bumped into her.

"Did he do that to you?" She motioned to the injuries on his face.

"Yeah."

"Then I'm sorry too. Now go away." She dropped the tent flap, laid on her cot, and watched T-Dog's shadow retreat.

 

* * *

 

Marianne tossed and turned all night, too angry to get any good sleep. That morning the bright sun couldn't dissipate the dark, gloomy feeling inside of her. In retrospect, she realized her plan to rescue Merle by herself was a little stupid. She gave herself a mediocre chance that she could have pulled it off but even so, Shane had no right stopping her. This was her life, not his.

She decided to wait for Daryl to come back before trying anything again. What she needed was a day off so she shunned her chores and went down to the quarry. She made sure most of them saw where she was going so hopefully they'd stay away, because Marianne really didn't want to be around people.

Hours passed and only Shane had appeared at the quarry but he filled up on water so far away from where she was sitting he didn't see her. Marianne had skinny dipped and, with her clothes back on, she was basking in the sun. Her light brown hair was nearly dry when she heard them.

The screaming of children made her blood run cold and she didn't even really like kids. They asked too many questions. She ran into camp but the screaming had stopped so she couldn't pinpoint where it had come from. Still pissed off at everyone she refused to ask for directions but she noticed a lot of people were missing. She hoped they had reached the kids in time.

Marianne was about to give up when Daryl appeared with Shane, Rick, Dale, Glenn, Jim, and Morales trailing behind him.

"Merle!" He spotted Marianne so he didn't bother calling out for her. He didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

Daryl set his crossbow down against a small pile of logs by the camp's main fire. Shane approached her brother but she remained where she was standing, her hands on her hips and jaw clenched.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane glanced over at Marianne who just glared at him. There was no way she was going to help make breaking the news to Daryl any easier for them. They deserved her brother's wrath.

Daryl turned around. "About what?"

"About Merle. There was a— There was a problem in Atlanta."

Daryl looked at Marianne whose face didn't give anything away. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't! Marianne?"

"Ask him." She pointed at Rick. There was venom in her voice.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick slowly walked towards Daryl.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

" _Rick Grimes_. You got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?"

"Yeah," Rick replied lamely and looked away.

Daryl threw his string of squirrels at Rick who dodged them. Then, extremely unnecessary in Marianne's opinion, Shane tackled her brother.

T-Dog who had earlier walked onto the scene carrying a load of firewood, dropped the logs. "Hey!" Daryl unsheathed his hunting knife. "Watch the knife!"

"Daryl! Stop!" Marianne ran towards her brother who took a swipe at Rick's face, which Rick avoided. She wanted the man to pay but not like this.

Fire burned in her chest when Shane put Daryl in a chokehold. The two men disarmed him.

"Let him go!" On second thought, maybe she'd take off where her brother was forced to leave off. She kept a knife in her boot no one knew about yet.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Rick blocked her from rushing at Shane.

"Get your hands off me!"

"You'd best let her go!" Shane brought Daryl down to the ground.

"Choke hold's illegal," the Dixons said at the same time.

"Yeah, you can file a complaint," Shane said. Marianne slipped out of Rick's grasp only to be caught again. This time he twisted her right arm up against her back and held onto the other by her wrist.

Brother and sister struggled against their captors.

"Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day," Shane said.

"Let us go, assholes," Marianne practically growled.

"I'll let you go if you promise not to try anything," Rick said.

"Fine by me because I wasn't tryin' anything in the first place."

"Sure you weren't."

"Shut up Shane," Marianne said as Rick cautiously let her go. She shook out her right arm and glared at Rick. Looking satisfied that she wasn't going to attack, Rick walked up to Daryl and knelt down.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Daryl didn't answer. "Do you think we can manage that?"

Still nothing from Daryl. He was really good at giving people the silent treatment. Marianne crossed her arms in front of her. Rick and Shane looked at each other and Shane roughly let Daryl go.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick said. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault," T-Dog chimed in. "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?"

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Marianne helped Daryl, who was still recovering from Shane's chokehold, to his feet. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him—with a padlock."

"It's got to count for something," Rick said.

Daryl rubbed his hand across his face. Marianne's heart wrenched. It looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Hell with all of y'all. Just tell me where he is. So's I can go get him."

"I know where he is. I was goin' after him yesterday but they stopped me."

"Stopped you how?"

"How do you think? Shane near forced me out of the truck."

"Bastard."

"Rick'll help you," Lori said unexpectedly, interrupting the beginnings of another fight. "Isn't that right?"

There was a pause and then Rick nodded. "I'm going back."

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was like a grotesque dream where nothing made sense. Here she was on a roof in a walker infested city staring at bloody handcuffs and the disembodied hand of her oldest brother, the instrument of torture next to it. She vaguely wondered if Dale would want his hacksaw back.

Daryl was screaming 'No' over and over. She felt more sorry for him than she did for the one handed Merle. Her stomach lurched. It wasn't because of the hand. It was because she realized, at that moment, she felt nothing for Merle. She had always loved him in her own way and the best she could under the circumstances. Daryl loved Merle more than she did. That was how it had always been. Merle was family and it had never occurred to her that she didn't have to stick by him. He was gone and she felt free. Guilt washed over her. Was she an awful person?

All four men misinterpreted her silence. T-Dog gave her a remorseful look. Glenn glanced at her furtively before doing an awkward shuffle. Rick came up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away from him and he quickly pulled his hand away.

"I'm sorry about Merle." A second apology in two days? The world really had ended. Marianne didn't respond.

Daryl yelled, swiftly turned around and aimed his crossbow at T-Dog's head. Just as quickly, Rick pulled out his Python and pointed it at Daryl's head.

Marianne stepped in front of T-Dog, blocking him from Daryl's line of fire. She was beginning to like T-Dog. First, he apologized to her and then he helped them try to rescue Merle. He owned up to his mistakes and she could respect that. Dropping the key was an unfortunate accident. It could've happened to anyone.

"Daryl. He's done right by us. He tried to fix his mistake. It's not his fault Merle chopped his hand off, the crazy bastard."

Daryl lowered his crossbow and grunted.

"Rick, now kindly point that thing away from my brother." Rick lowered his gun.

"You got a do-rag or something?" Daryl asked T-Dog.

T-Dog pulled a blue bandana out of his pocket and Daryl took it. Everyone watched as he neatly laid it out on the ground next to Merle's hand.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Daryl gingerly picked up the hand by its pinky finger and examined it. "Ain't that a bitch?"

To Glenn's disgust, Daryl placed the wrapped up hand in his backpack. Marianne frowned, half wondering why Daryl was taking it in the first place.

She looked at the puddle of blood on the concrete. "He must have used a tourniquet, maybe his belt."

"Yeah, be much more blood if he didn't." Daryl started following a trail of it and T-Dog gathered Dale's tools. Soon, all five of them were back in the building with Daryl in the lead and Marianne in the back. As they walked down the stairs Daryl called out for Merle but there was no answer.

They continued down the stairs and through the building, encountering their first walker in a ransacked office which Daryl promptly took out with an arrow to its head.

They entered a reception area of some sort and found two dead walkers. Marianne wondered why the lamp by the window was knocked over. Why was this place a mess? There would've been nothing good to loot here.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches…One handed." Daryl reloaded his crossbow. "Toughest asshole I ever met, our brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Rick said.

They searched some more and found a kitchen with the gas stove turned on. Blood was smeared on it and they discovered evidence that Merle had cauterized his wound.

"Told you he was tough," Daryl said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood," Rick countered.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl brought their attention to a busted window.

"He left the building. Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn was dumbfounded.

"Why the hell does Merle do anything?" Marianne ran her fingers through some loose bangs and tucked them behind her ear. She had known Merle most of her life and he still surprised her from time to time.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do." Daryl finished looking out of the window and Rick took his place. "Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog asked in disbelief. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Marianne conceded that Daryl had a point. Daryl turned to Rick. "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb, dead bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb, dead bastards? Different story?" Marianne was preparing herself to intervene between Rick and Daryl, something she felt like she'd be doing a lot of if she and Daryl stuck with this group.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. Me and Marianne are gonna go get him."

"Daryl, wait." Rick held his hand up against Daryl's chest and pushed back on him. There it was. Time to step in between these two men.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop us," Daryl said as Marianne firmly situated herself in front of Daryl.

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine," Rick said to both siblings. "I know exactly how y'all feel."

"Then if you're not goin' to help, let us be," Marianne said.

"That's what I was about to propose. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head." This time Rick was talking over Marianne and directly at Daryl. Apparently, her head was level enough for the cop.

"I could do that."

"Only if we get those guns first," T-Dog added. "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

A genuine smile graced Marianne's face. "Thank you T-Dog." Daryl gave Marianne an annoyed look which she ignored. "I guess we'll be needing a plan."

They moved their planning party to one of the ransacked offices. Marianne nearly slipped on some loose papers, leaving behind dirty boot prints on now obsolete forms. Daryl smirked at her clumsy footing and Marianne playfully elbowed him. The interaction didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the men, who weren't used to Daryl showing affection of any kind or degree or seeing Marianne as anything but serious.

Daryl half sat on the side of a desk and Marianne sat cross legged on top of the one across from him. T-Dog sat on the ground leaning against a different one with Glenn kneeling down beside him while Rick stood in the middle of them all with hands on his hips, in an authoritative stance. This was definitely a man who thought he was in charge.

"You're not doing this alone," Rick said in response to Glenn proposing he grab the guns by himself.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much," Daryl said.

"It's pretty stupid for someone that's not a complete idiot," Marianne added.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn looked up at Rick. "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." Glenn drew everyone's attention the crude but effective map he had drawn on the floor with a dry erase marker.

He placed his hand a on a large binder clip. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He put a crumpled up scrap of paper next to it. "That's the bag of guns." He pointed to a spot on the map. "Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Marianne, and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun." Glenn placed a large paperclip down. "While Daryl and Marianne wait here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag."

"But you got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"You and T-Dog, right. You'll be in this alley here." Glenn put an eraser on the map.

"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick asked.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl and Marianne. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

 

* * *

 

Glenn's plan was a good one but he forgot about one thing. Other survivors. It happened fast and Daryl didn't take the diplomatic approach when a teenage boy appeared. The boy wouldn't stop yelling and Daryl hit him across the face with his crossbow, knocking him to the ground. Not one hundred percent pleased with her brother's tactics but, finding force was often the only option in these types of situations, Marianne decided to keep a look out for swarming walkers at the alley entrance.

Instead of the starving undead charging at them, it was two very angry looking men. She retreated in between two dumpsters so the men wouldn't spot her when they first ran into the alley.

"Daryl!" She yelled in warning as she tackled the second skinnier, younger guy and let the bald one go after Daryl. They hit the ground, with Marianne on top of him knocking the breath out of the stranger and making him drop his metal bat. She kept him pinned down and watched helplessly as the other man repeatedly kicked Daryl.

Glenn appeared, nearly running over Marianne, who was now punching the younger guy in face to try to take some fight out of him. "Glenn, help Daryl!"

Glenn, still shocked by the scene he had stumbled, froze. "Glenn!"

"That's it. That's the bag, vato! Take it! Take it!" The man underneath her yelled, drawing the other man's attention to Glenn. He went after Glenn, and Marianne hit the man underneath her one last time before launching herself at the bald guy who had just punched Glenn to the ground.

The fight was quick and sloppy with Glenn being completely useless. She needed to remind herself to give him a few pointers if they made it out of this alive. The bald man screamed in agony and Marianne saw an arrow sticking out of his ass. This made things a little easier.

Except, she felt something hit the side of her face. Marianne had forgotten about the metal baseball bat she had knocked out of the younger man's hand. She stumbled and it was just enough time for another man to grab her and throw her into a car that had just pulled up. She landed on top of Glenn who scrambled to get out from under her.

Her head pounded and she could feel a large bruise forming. At least there wasn't any blood. She hated stitches. Despite the strong urge to close them Marianne kept her eyes opened and watched where they were going. She didn't know Atlanta, having only been there a few times before, so even though she remembered the turns and what the streets looked like she had no clue where she was in the city. It didn't take long to arrive at their destination.

"You've got to be kidding me. A nursing home? You're risking these senior citizens' lives for some guns?"

"No, we're trying to protect them with those guns." Said the man who had introduced himself as Guillermo, who she presumed was their leader.

"You're an idiot."

"I don't think you should be talking to them like that when they have guns pointed at us," Glenn whispered to her. She scoffed.

"Look, we don't want to cause any trouble. Right Marianne?"

"Right. We'll be the most well behaved hostages you've ever had."

Guillermo laughed. "I'm starting to like her."

 

* * *

 

For the second time that day, Marianne felt like she was dreaming. Here she was in a walker infested city, a hostage in a nursing home full of abandoned old people and their families. And now she was being nearly dangled over the side of a roof with duct tape over her mouth and Glenn whimpering beside her.

She looked down to see Rick and Daryl with the teenage boy as their prisoner. Two people for one wasn't a fair trade. They were going to want the guns. She hoped Daryl wouldn't try anything stupid just because she was involved.

With their little performance over Marianne and Glenn were back inside the nursing home with two men guarding them. There was nothing better to do than talk to her fellow captive. Plus, with her head injury, she needed to keep alert.

"So, you were a pizza delivery boy." Glenn stared at her. "I'm tryin' to do some small talk here."

"Oh um, yeah. What'd you do?"

"I was a waitress. Trying to save up for college. Had a full-ride scholarship but that didn't pan out."

"What happened?"

"I'd moved into my own crappy apartment but the paperwork went to my dad's. He never told me about it. The deadline passed and I lost it."

"Man, that sucks."

"Yeah, well that's life. It don't matter anymore." There was a pause. "So, how exactly did Shane find out I was goin' back for Merle?"

"Well, um, look. You see, Dale asked me and I'm not the greatest liar and I'm terrible at keeping secrets. He must have told Shane."

"Meddling old fool."

"Hey, he was just worried about you."

"Worried about me?" She let out a derisive laugh that hurt her head. "More like he was bored."

"You probably won't believe this but some of us care about you."

"You're right. I don't. No one cares about the Dixons." She sighed. "Look, I know Merle is a shitty person and I know you didn't want to come but I'm grateful you did and so is Daryl. Just don't tell him I told you. For your own sake, not mine."

"How are you not freaked out right now?"

Marianne shrugged. "I don't know. Would you believe it if I said I'd been through worse before the dead started eating people?"

"Really?"

"Maybe I'll tell you a story or two sometime. But you'll have'ta get me shitfaced drunk first and that's not an easy thing to do." She smiled at Glenn but she didn't know why. "Don't worry about our sorry situation too much. I have a feeling you and me are gonna be just fine."

The conversation lulled and Marianne found herself sitting on the floor with a Chihuahua in her lap after one of the elderly women noticed she was hurt and made one of their guards give her a glass of water and aspirin. She smirked at the sight of a frail, old woman bossing around a big, tough looking man.

Glenn had wandered off and was talking with some of the other people in the room. Marianne was engrossed with playing with the dog until an old man started having an asthma attack and no one could find his medicine. One of the old women left to get help. Marianne abandoned the dog to go stand next to Glenn, who looked extremely worried for the asthmatic old man.

Not even three minutes later the old woman returned with several people in tow.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked.

"An asthma attack," Glenn answered in all seriousness, completely missing the point of Rick's question. Marianne suppressed a laugh. She was starting to really like this guy. "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."

"I thought y'all were being eaten by dogs, man," T-Dog said angrily. This time Marianne did laugh which she instantly regretted since it sent a hard, throbbing pain through her head. The group turned to look at the three Chihuahuas lying in a dog bed together. The middle one barked at them.

Daryl looked at his sister and finally noticed her swollen cheek and the dark purple and blue bruise on left side of her face. "Son of a bitch." He rushed over to her to inspect it while Rick pulled Guillermo aside for a talk.

"Hurts like one too."

"I'll kill the bastard—"

"Relax, he got the worse of it." She pointed to a man who sported two black eyes, a busted lip, and a nice looking bruise of his own along his jaw.

"Not bad enough if ya ask me."

"I didn't. So get over it. I have." Daryl gave her a skeptical look.

"Don't be a dumbass and act all tough, I don't need you passin' out. Ya got no color in your face 'cept blue and purple."

"Purple's my favorite color. And who says I'm actin'?"

Daryl huffed. "Ya know what I mean."

 

* * *

 

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat," Glenn said as the five of them walked back to the railroad tracks where they had left the van.

"Don't tell anybody."

"You've given away half our guns and ammo," Daryl said indignantly.

"Not nearly half."

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Rick asked.

They all stopped dead in their tracks and looked at the spot where their van should be.

"Oh my God," Glenn said.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked shifting his eyes back and forth.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?" A hint of panic entered Glenn's voice.

"Merle," Marianne said simply and sighed.

Daryl briefly looked down before glancing at Marianne. "He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp."

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Although she would never admit it, Daryl had been right in predicting that she'd downplay her injury for the sake of not slowing them down. They were practically jogging the entire way back in a futile attempt to reach camp before Merle could cause too much trouble, but Marianne wasn't holding her breath. In fact, she was having a hard time finding it. The ache in her head had spread to the rest of her tired body. She felt dizzy and whatever effect the aspirin had on her had surely worn off. Sweat trickled down her forehead and she wiped it away before it reached her eyes. A cold glass of water sounded real nice.

"We're almost there," Rick said.

"Maybe by the time Merle got back he'd lost too much blood to do any damage," Glenn said hopefully.

"Wouldn't count on it." Marianne stumbled.

"You alright?" T-Dog asked.

"I'm fine."

"Looks like you're about to keel over." Daryl eyed the nasty bruise on her face.

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, instantly regretting the tone of her voice.

Before anyone had a chance to speak again, they heard screaming and gunshots. Their worst nightmare had come to life

That last desperate sprint to camp nearly killed her and bursting on to a scene of horror didn't help but she quickly got her bearings and started shooting, hoping to save more than one life tonight but by the looks of it, they'd be lucky to save anyone.

When the shooting stopped and the last walker had fallen everyone was in shock, most of them still in a fighting stance looking warily around the devastated camp. Glenn was close to hyperventilating and the children whimpered. Carl clung to his dad. She watched Amy die.

She had lied. She wasn't fine.

Marianne fell to her knees, nausea overtaking her making her lean forward on her hands. A cold wave rippled through her body and she let her head hang down, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to make her body obey her command to stay in control. Her head pounded more than ever, each throb punctuated by Andrea's cries. She heard Daryl calling her name but couldn't bring herself to look up.

"I should've killed the son of a bitch that did this."

"What happened to her?"

"Is she bit?"

"No, she's not bit," he spat out. "Took a hit in the head from a metal bat."

A man kept asking her questions she didn't answer and she finally heard Daryl yell "Back off!"

A woman was kneeling in front of her telling her everything was going to be okay. She hated when people said that. This person had no clue if she was going to be alright.

Eventually, her brother scooped her up and carried her to her tent. Marianne hadn't passed out but she was too damned tired to move and her eyelids were too heavy to open. They might as well have been cemented shut. She was having a hard time caring about anything but sleep and not dying.

The night was a rough one. When she had cracked her eyes open it was still dark and Daryl was determined to keep her awake, not letting her doze off for more than an hour at a time and he kept forcing her to drink water. She felt bad for him. Marianne knew he was feeling guilty for not protecting her, a responsibility she had absolved him of years ago.

When morning arrived she was in only a little better off shape than the camp was. Daryl ordered her to sit down if she wasn't going to stay in her tent. She watched as her brother went around the fallen, putting a pickaxe in their heads so they stayed that way. Beside the RV, Andrea still held vigil over Amy's body.

Her head continued to hurt but she was itching to help, to do something besides sit around being useless. She didn't like being useless.

Glenn and T-Dog hauled bodies into two separate piles which she stared at and quickly realized the theme for each, one for the walker strangers and one for their own dead. Soon they set fire to the pile of dead walkers. Even though she had managed not to pass out last night, the smell of rotting burnt flesh might do her in soon.

Lori made her way towards her. She wasn't the first to stop and talk to her. Marianne and Jacqui had talked more that morning than they ever had before. T-Dog, Glenn, Rick, Miranda, Carol, Dale and even Shane exchanged more than a few words with Marianne. It was unnerving and Daryl kept staring down everyone that came near her. Apparently being injured made her more approachable.

"How're you feeling?"

"About as good as I look," Marianne answered for the seventh or eighth time. She'd lost count.

"I wanted to ask if you wanted something to eat. I didn't see you have breakfast."

"I'm not hungry." Lori gave her a look. "No, really. I'm not."

"I'll bring you a little something over, maybe for later." Lori had a this-case-is-closed mom voice so Marianne knew there was no arguing with the woman.

"If that's what makes you happy."

Lori walked away and Glenn caught Marianne's attention.

"We don't burn them!" He yelled at Daryl and Morales, a dead camper at their feet, whose name she hadn't bothered to remember. "We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there."

Daryl and Morales complied and dragged the dead man over to the other deceased campers.

"You reap what you sow!" Her brother shouted. Marianne winced.

"You know what? Shut up, man," Morales said.

"Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming." She watched Daryl storm off and even though she knew it didn't make any sense, a tiny part of her agreed with him.

Marianne was about to go after Daryl when Jacqui announced to the camp, "A walker bit Jim." Everyone looked at the man and began circling him. The losses of last night were still coming.

Jim started to put up a fight like an animal trapped in a corner, picking up a shovel to defend himself, but T-Dog came up from behind him and easily disarmed him. Daryl lifted Jim's shirt to reveal the bite on his stomach. The sight was a death sentence.

"I'm okay." The dead man walking repeated over and over.

While Jim was led to sit down at the end of the RV the group convened into a circle, Marianne included standing between Daryl and T-Dog, and they debated what to do with Jim. Daryl suggested they put a pickaxe in his head.

"I hate to say it. I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale said.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Anger was creeping into Rick's voice.

"I'm not suggesting—"

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers or them to be," Daryl declared.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick said.

Shane disagreed and the two friends argued. Shane advocated going to the army base, Fort Benning. Marianne was dubious about this plan to go 100 miles out of their way for something that might not be there with resources they didn't have.

Daryl kept looking behind him at Jim.

"You go looking for aspirin. Do what you need to do."

"Daryl, don't." Marianne put a hand on his arm but he pulled away. Weapons and Daryl's temper never mixed well.

"Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!"

In a flash, Rick had a gun pointed at her brother's head. Again. Marianne really needed to sit down or have a drink, or maybe both.

"We don't kill the living."

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

Shane positioned himself between Daryl and Jim. "We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on."

Daryl slammed the pickaxe on the ground. Marianne grabbed it and followed him.

"You shouldn't be walkin' around."

"You shouldn't be swingin' pickaxes at peoples' heads."

"I don't need a lecture."

"I'm not. Just some sisterly advice." Daryl stopped walking and took the pickaxe from Marianne. "These people don't get it. Not yet. They're too soft for you and you're too rough for them. You've had to be. Hell, we both have. Let them do it their way as long as it don't get us both killed. They'll learn soon enough."

"You sure that wasn't a lecture 'cause I nearly fell asleep."

"Shut up, you big jerk. I'm tryin' to be helpful."

"Be a help and sit back down before I make ya."

 

* * *

 

They buried their dead and it was finally decided that the group was going to the CDC in the morning. The Dixons settled around their camp fire for the night. With so many people gone, the place felt like a ghost town. Thinking about last night, Marianne was grateful she and Daryl were alive. She had convinced herself that they'd be the ones that would survive for years to come but she also knew that if nothing was certain in the world before the dead started rising, than it was undoubtedly that way now. All they could do was try to stay alive.

"Are we goin' with them?" Daryl asked Marianne, interrupting her thoughts. "Your choice."

"We've got nothin' better to do. Why not go for the ride? It's not like it's safe here. Never was." She shrugged. She wouldn't say it out loud but she felt a little better being with other people.

"It ain't safe anywhere no more."

"You're supposed to be makin' me feel better."

"Oh really? I thought brothers were supposed'ta torment their sisters."

"We got enough torment from other people."

"Can't argue with that."

They both stared into the fire, remembering things best left in the past.

The next day came swiftly. The camp was packed up. It was a fight but Marianne got Daryl to back off and let her take down her own tent. Although it was morbid and a few people argued against it, the dead campers' belongings were redistributed among the group. They left behind what they didn't need or couldn't justify taking up space in their vehicles.

Shane was giving the group instructions when Morales and his family told them they were going to try for Birmingham and then they said their goodbyes. Personally, Marianne thought their quest was futile. It was beyond a miracle that Rick had found his family again and who was to say their people were still alive? The odds were against them. When driving out of camp, the family turned right and everybody else turned left.

Marianne had been drifting off to sleep when Daryl stopped the truck. "What's going on?"

"RV must've stalled," Daryl said.

"Dale wouldn't shut up about the radiator hose the other day. I bet that's what this is."

"Let's go find out."

The siblings left the truck and joined the others at the front of the RV.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale said to Rick. "I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jerry-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape."

Shane had binoculars out and spotted something up the road, hopefully a gas station. And hopefully that gas station had a radiator hose.

Jacqui came hurrying out of the RV. Jim was getting worse. Marianne didn't think he was long for this world. He wouldn't make it to the CDC. Rick entered the RV while Shane and T-Dog drove off in search for a hose.

Along with a few other people, she watched the tree line looking for walkers before they could sneak up on them. She was feeling better even though being hot and sweaty made her head hurt a little more than it had in the early morning. According to Daryl, the swelling was completely gone.

Rick waited for Shane and T-Dog to come back with the much needed radiator hose and some duct tape, just in case, before rounding everybody up for another talk about Jim. They had to decide if they'd leave him behind like he had asked and after a quick debate they decided to respect Jim's wish. Rick and Shane helped him out of the RV as carefully as they could and half carried the man to a tree a little ways up off the road.

As goodbyes were said, Marianne hung towards the back of the group. Daryl gave him a nod and Marianne mirrored him. There was nothing left to say. The group was silent as they got into their vehicles and drove away. Marianne didn't look back.

 

* * *

 

The sun was going down as they arrived at the CDC but there was still plenty of light left in the day to see them, the hundreds of dead bodies that littered the ground. Even if they hadn't have seen them, the overwhelming smell of decay would've alerted the group to their presence. The mood was still somber from leaving Jim behind and all of this death at their hoped for sanctuary wasn't exactly raising their spirits.

They cautiously weaved their way through the dead bodies, of soldiers and civilians alike, towards the CDC entrance. Marianne wasn't breathing through her nose but, the smell was so strong, it barely helped. Everyone was coughing. Marianne spotted a child sprawled on the ground, boy or girl she couldn't tell, and quickly looked away.

They reached the entrance but heavy duty metal shutters were covering the doors and windows. Shane banged on one of them.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog said.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked, dogged in his belief that they would find a safe haven there.

Marianne and Daryl spotted the walkers at the same time and alerted the group. Carl and Sophia started to cry, their mothers drawing them close. Daryl shot the nearest one with his crossbow.

"You led us to a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at Rick.

"He made a call," Shane said.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

People started to panic. Marianne kept an eye on the incoming walkers. Night was fast approaching and the dark was descending on them. She'd never seen the sun set so fast. Shane suggested Fort Benning again but the idea wasn't well received.

Glenn, T-Dog, Daryl and Marianne pointed their rifles at the walkers, but she felt helpless knowing that gunfire would draw even more of them in. They started to head back to the vehicles when Rick stopped them, saying the camera moved.

"You imagined it," Dale said.

"It moved." Rick walked closer to the camera.

"Rick, it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on," Shane said. Rick refused and the two started fighting. This was not the time or the place for this.

The walkers were slowly but surely getting closer. Rick started banging on the shutters and screaming at the camera. People were yelling at him, trying to get through to him to make him see sense. Marianne wouldn't let herself die today.

Lori ran up to Rick and tried to push him away from the building. It didn't work so Shane grabbed Rick, who was still yelling, and dragged him away.

"You're killing us!"

All of a sudden the shutters clanked open and everybody turned around, stunned. The walkers were momentarily forgotten. A bright, white light washed over them and blinded them to what was inside. It made Marianne uneasy. Isn't this what the entrance to heaven was supposed to look like? They were trying to walk away from the light, not towards it, but death was creeping up behind them and Marianne knew the only good option was to enter the building.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The bright light abruptly turned off making Marianne wonder what the point of it was. Once they had all entered the building lobby and closed the doors they were greeted by a tall man with messy white-blonde hair pointing an automatic at them. Marianne kept a tight grip on her own gun.

"Anybody infected?"

"One of our group was," Rick answered. "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked in quick succession.

"A chance," Rick said.

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know."

The price of admission was a blood test that they readily agreed to it. The man told them to bring all the stuff they needed inside because the doors were going to stay closed. Marianne helped cover the men that retrieved their bags and they only had to put a knife through a couple of walker heads.

The metal shutters closed with a startling finality. Marianne wasn't sure how safe she felt with them down again. Yes, they were keeping the undead out but what if something went terribly wrong and they needed to leave? She didn't like feeling trapped.

Marianne always had at least one escape route figured out. It was how she had survived as a little girl who couldn't hold up her own in a fight yet. There was nothing wrong with admitting defeat and saving your ass by running away. Live to fight another day. That's what Daryl had told her when she was very young, with her mother recently dead and having just moved into her dad's place.

All fourteen of them crammed into a double-sided elevator.

"Doctor's always go around packing heat like that?" asked Daryl, who was himself holding a crossbow and a rifle.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," Jenner answered without missing a beat. "But you look harmless enough." He looked at Carl with a faint smile. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl smiled and Jenner gave a short quiet laugh.

Marianne wondered, when was the last time Jenner had seen a kid and had he believed he'd see one again?

They walked down a hallway after Dr. Jenner, following him on blind faith that he'd lead them somewhere they'd want to be. He entered a large, dark room ahead of them.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." There was humming and beeping before the lights came on. They appeared to be standing on a walkway that led to the center of the aptly named 'big room' where there were computers grouped on a circular raised platform.

Rick asked where everybody else was and Lori asked about Vi, which turned out to just be a very smart computer program.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." After this not-so-happy revelation Dr. Jenner led them to a room that looked like a small lecture hall, where he'd draw their blood.

She hated needles and looked away before she could watch it slip into her vein. She could feel Jenner studying her face as her blood filled the vial.

"It's not polite to stare. Aren't you goin' to ask what happened?"

"I was thinking about it."

"We had a little misunderstanding with some other survivors."

"I should see the other guy, right?"

"She held her own," Rick said after it was obvious Marianne wasn't going to answer Jenner.

"I believe it."

Andrea was next and was a little slow when standing back up. Jenner found out the group was more than a little hungry.

Their next stop was a small cafeteria, where food and wine were pulled out for them. Marianne nursed her own glass as she watched the people around her cheerily partake in their impromptu feast. She laughed along with the others when Carl tried a sip of wine and pulled a face, finding the adult drink disgusting.

Jenner sat a little bit away from the group at a separate table. Marianne noted that he looked outright depressed and Rick must have too because he stood up and called a toast to thank their host.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane decided to ruin the good mood. "All the, uh, the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick sat back down.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we—" Shane chuckled in discontent. "We found him." He pointed his thumb at Jenner. "Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Marianne wasn't surprised to hear this, especially after seeing the devastation outside.

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No. People…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man," Glenn told Shane and Marianne wholeheartedly agreed with him.

With their late dinner wrapped up on a low, Jenner led them to an area where they could find their own rooms to sleep in. He explained how housing and most of the rest of the facility was powered down but that the couches were comfortable. When Jenner mentioned hot water T-Dog and Glenn hurried to the showers.

After setting her stuff down in one of the rooms she found Daryl in the one next to her, still holding onto a bottle of wine.

"So what do you think about all this?" Marianne leaned against the door frame.

"I think that I'm goin' to drink some more and enjoy sleepin' without one eye open." He offered the bottle but she shook her head.

"I've had enough."

"You sure? You barely touched the stuff earlier."

"I'm not in a drinkin' mood."

"What's wrong? Is it your head?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm still processing." Daryl nodded in understanding. "I'm gonna go process some more under some hot water."

It was one of the best showers she had taken in her entire life. The hot water cascaded over her body, relaxing her taut muscles. The steam rose around her and she closed her eyes and relished the heat. Her worries were washing away with all the dirt and gore caked on her skin.

Marianne put on the cleanest clothes she had and wondered around; poking into places Jenner probably wouldn't want her to until she finally returned to hallway where they were staying. Her eyes widened as she walked into the rec room and then her temper flared. When the time came it could hold its own against Daryl's.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Shane skittered away from Lori, where he had her backed against a pinball machine, looking extremely guilty. He left the room in a real hurry, quickly looking at Marianne as he walked past her. She didn't like the look on his face. It was almost as if he was warning her, but he was the one that needed to watch out.

She closed the door behind Shane and walked over to Lori. "Are you okay?"

Lori was shaken and she took quick unsteady breaths. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"Just don't tell Rick." The woman was trying her hardest not to sob. Marianne nodded reluctantly and Lori looked relieved, like it was one less thing for her to worry about.

But Marianne didn't stop with just a nod. "It's none of my business. But I'll make it be if I see this happen again." She wasn't exactly sure what she would do but she'd make sure it was unpleasant for Shane.

Lori left the rec room and Marianne quickly browsed the books before deciding she didn't want to read. Why read when you could sleep walker free?

 

* * *

 

Having had only a couple of drinks last night Marianne was in good form when she woke up. Her head had recently stopped aching and she had wanted to avoid getting a hangover. She was the earliest one awake and in the kitchen, eager to make the coffee her way before somebody beat her to it.

Jenner was the first person she saw. He showed her where everything was and what there all was for breakfast food and handed her a bottle of aspirin in case anyone needed it. She gave him a smile when he pointed out the bacon.

After Jenner left, the women, children and Dale trickled in. All of the women seemed to be having a happy morning, not having overdone it the night before. Glenn miserably stumbled into the room groaning and Marianne grinned. Daryl really did do a number on him last night, encouraging the younger man to drink more than he had in his entire life.

When T-Dog arrived he appreciatively took the cup of coffee she offered and with it in hand went rummaging through the pantry and fridge, exclaiming victory when he found powdered eggs. Having finished the bacon, she vacated the stove for T-Dog who was excited about making scrambled eggs.

Rick eventually walked into the room and sat in the empty chair between Marianne and Lori.

"Are you hungover?" His son asked with a smirk. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right."

"Mom has that annoying habit," Lori said, amusedly eyeing her husband.

"Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good." T-Dog approached the table with a pan. Glenn groaned some more. "I betchya can't tell. Protein helps the hangover," he told Glenn as he spooned some onto the man's plate.

Shane arrived looking like he'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

"Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked.

"Worse," Shane answered.

Marianne watched Lori. No one else noticed anything was wrong with her even though she wasn't doing the best job hiding it. Marianne glared at Shane as he sat down. Jenner walked in and she moved her focus back to her last piece of bacon.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing—"

"But you will anyway." Jenner interrupted Dale while pouring himself some coffee.

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said.

"I did," Marianne said to herself, making T-Dog grin at her. A few others found it amusing but Andrea didn't appreciate her comment.

Dr. Jenner turned around and looked like he was debating something. He nodded. "I'll show you after breakfast."

With the knowledge that they were going to find out what the hell was going on in the world they ate quickly and Jenner didn't have time to finish his coffee before he was leading them to the big room.

He walked up to one of the computers on the circular platform and they all followed him. He typed something and said, "Give me playback of TS-19." Images came up on a very large screen in front of them. Most of them were of inside a person's head.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one. Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced Internal View," Vi responded. One of the images was zoomed into so you could see the brain more closely and then it kept zooming until it stopped at what Marianne knew were synapses and neurons from advanced biology in high school. It had been her favorite class.

Shane asked what the flashing lights were.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages," Jenner explained. "They determine everything a person says, does or things from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked, walking closer to the screen.

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." He paused. "This is Test Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process."

Jenner asked Vi to scan to the first event and the image on the screen changed. It was still the same head but it was different, the brain was darker. Jenner explained how the infection invaded the brain like meningitis and how the infection progressed, how it killed. The person on the screen looked to be in pain, until all the flashing lights in the brain abruptly stopped and the person no longer moved.

Andrea was rapidly becoming more upset. Lori told Jenner how she lost her sister recently. He commiserated with Andrea and then he had Vi scan to the second event, which was the resurrection of the corpse.

A red glow appeared at the bottom of the brain and spread outward a little.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked apprehensively.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.

Jenner confirmed this and told them how what makes a person themselves stays dead.

Marianne watched the reanimated corpse and suddenly a bullet went through the brain, killing the person for a second time.

Jenner ignored Andrea's question of whether he shot his patient. "Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations."

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked undeterred.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui asked, her voice betraying how upset she was.

"There is that," Jenner said. Marianne was getting angry. What had these people been doing all of this time? Why did they know so little?

"But I don't understand. How can you not at least know what it is? Can't you tell its basic structure from your samples? Didn't you run a DNA analysis?" Marianne asked.

Before he could answer Andrea butted in. "Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere."

"There are other facilities, right?" asked Carol.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" There were undercurrents of frustration in Rick's voice.

"Everything went down. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here," Andrea said. "There's nothing left anywhere? That's what you're really saying, right?"

Dr. Jenner didn't say anything and it didn't look like he would.

"Jesus," Jacqui said, closing her eyes and leaning back against a monitor.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk, again." Daryl said rubbing his face. He rested his elbows on top of a computer and put his head in his hands.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…" One more? He'd barely answered any of the ones they had asked. "That clock." Dale pointed at the object in question. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel."

"And then?" Rick asked but once again Jenner didn't answer. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Marianne felt the blood drain from her face. Decontamination in a place like this meant death.

She rushed up to Rick. "We need to pack our things and go."

"Now hold on a second. We should check the generators first. See what we can do."

"What we can do? We can leave. That's what we can do."

But Rick wouldn't listen to her. He, along with T-Dog, Glenn, and Shane headed to the basement to look at the generators.

Next, she went up to Daryl. "We need to pack our things and head out."

"Rick hasn't said anything."

"Oh trust me, he'll be leaving soon. Do you know what decontamination is? It usually means fire. A big explosion that I don't want to be anywhere near, let alone inside of the damn building."

"Did you tell Rick?"

"I tried. Since when does a man like that listen to somebody like me?"

The rest of them went back to their rooms. Marianne told them that if they were smart they'd start packing but of course no one paid her any attention.

She didn't have much to pack, not really having had the chance to settle in. It took her less than a minute to put everything away so she headed towards the cafeteria intent on raiding it, dragging Daryl along with her and making him leave the alcohol behind.

"Grab everything you can," she said, quickly stuffing nonperishable food items until her bag would barely close. Daryl did the same. By the time they were back in the hallway where the rooms were, people were coming out of their own wondering why the air conditioning had stopped despite the fact that Jenner had just told them the generators would run out of fuel soon.

"The power's shutting down. What do you think?" Marianne couldn't believe how deep in denial these people were.

Jenner walked into the hallway and they asked him, meaning once again she was ignored.

"Energy use is being prioritized."

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner continued to walk and everyone followed.

"Now will you people listen to me? We need to go."

Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane came running up from the basement.

"Rick?" Lori called down from the walkway they were on to her husband below them. The group went down the stairs to the main floor.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked heatedly, striding to meet the man.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second." They were all heading to the big room. "That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." He pointed to the digital clock.

Jenner stopped walking and they waited expectantly for him to speak. There was a brief pause. "It was the French."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" asked Jacqui.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice."

Shane started off towards Jenner. "Let me tell you something—"

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick slowed Shane down and then turned around. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

"Finally," Marianne said. She and Daryl were already carrying their belongings. The rest of them started running to their rooms when a loud alarm went off and red lights started to flash.

"Thirty minutes to decontamination," Vi announced. Marianne watched suspiciously as Jenner ran over to something.

Large metal doors shot up from the floor and blocked the exit.

"He just locked us in!" Glenn yelled.

They had wanted so badly to get into the building but now all they could think about was getting out.

 


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6 **

Atlanta was too dangerous. It always had been but the risk was too great now that the CDC was gone and they had nowhere to take refuge in the city. After their near escape from a fiery death, all they wanted to do was leave the cursed place behind. So now they were heading to Fort Benning but Marianne didn't get her hopes up. A trip that used to take a couple of hours now had the potential to stretch into days. And then, when they finally arrived, what would be waiting for them? More death or a sanctuary?

They stopped in the city's outskirts to regroup.

"Okay, so it's decided. We're leaving behind the jeep, the truck, and the van. Daryl, T-Dog. You two can siphon the gas outta them. Everyone else, we've got some rearranging to do. Let's get this over with as fast as possible."

The group broke apart to get started on their tasks. Marianne headed to their truck.

"Hey Marianne." She stopped and turned to look at Rick. "Let's go talk." He motioned her over and she confusedly followed him out of hearing distance of the group. Daryl gave her a questioning look and she shrugged her shoulders in response. She didn't have a clue what this was about.

Rick put his hands on his hips and squinted as a ray of light filtered through the trees and landed on his face. "I wanted to say thank you to you and Daryl for grabbing the food and that I'm sorry for not hearin' you out back there. It could've saved us a whole lotta trouble."

"That's an understatement. You nearly got us killed. Next time maybe you'll listen. That's when I'll know you're sorry."

"Fair enough, I can accept that." Rick nodded.

"Is that all?"

"I guess it is."

She walked away but he spoke again. "I'm glad you and Daryl are sticking around." Marianne briefly stopped before resuming her course not knowing what to think about this revelation.

Daryl was almost finished siphoning the gas out of their truck when she got there.

"What'd he want?"

"He apologized," she said sounding a little mystified, "for not listening to me."

"Good."

"He also says thank you for the food. Not just to me, but to you." Daryl didn't say anything to that.

Marianne moved their stuff and helped Daryl take Merle's motorcycle down, which he would be using from here on out while she was stuck in the RV. At least she wasn't crammed into Carol's car with the kids. Although, she would trade the both of them for Shane any day. The man wasn't one for small talk so they could thankfully ignore one another.

It didn't take them long to pack up and move out. Daryl was in the lead, followed by the RV and the Cherokee.

For awhile she lounged on one of the single beds in the back reading one of Dale's books while T-Dog sat on the other looking out the window. The ride was a little bumpy but it sure beat sitting next to Shane and Andrea so she made do. Her attention eventually wandered away from the book and she walked to the front of the RV and stood behind Glenn, whose brow was furrowed as he studied a map.

"We making good time?"

"As long as we don't hit any traffic snarls and we find enough fuel we should be there by the end of the day," Dale said.

Minutes later he slowed the RV as they came up on a chaotic car pileup that stretched beyond what their eyes could see. Cars had veered off the road into the grass, doors were flung open and a semi had fallen onto its side sprawled across the highway right in front of them. Glenn sighed, upset at their newest obstacle and looked down at the map again. "Maybe I spoke too soon," Dale said.

Daryl doubled back and drove up to the RV's driver side window.

"See a way through?" Dale asked. Daryl nodded and motioned with his head for them to follow.

"Uh, maybe we should just go back," Glenn said. Marianne looked over his shoulder at the map. "There's an interstate bypass—"

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale said, ruling the idea out immediately.

They were crawling their way through the maze of cars when the RV made a very loud, hissing noise before it stopped working. When Daryl noticed they weren't following him anymore he turned his motorcycle around.

Dale cursed. "It's that radiator hose. It wasn't a perfect match."

How many times was this thing going to break down before they gave up on it? It was dangerous to be stranded on the road over and over. Their luck would run out soon and they'd be in real trouble.

Dale slammed the door open and they filed out of the RV. "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked, already looking around and keeping an eye out for danger.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—" Dale stopped and looked at the mess they were in the middle of. Daryl and Marianne were already rummaging through the back of a station wagon. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane said.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl grabbed a green duffel from the back of the car he was looking through, dumped it, and put a few items he'd already found into the now empty bag.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog added.

"This is a graveyard," Lori said, dampening the group's plan on searching for food and water. Everyone looked around at the others' reaction to the melodramatic statement. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"This is survival. You either deal or you die," Marianne said.

There was a pause. Everyone seemed to agree with her, probably not in those exact words, and implicitly decided to ignore Lori's feelings.

Daryl and Marianne continued searching through the station wagon.

"Come on, y'all. Look around, gather what you can," Shane said unnecessarily as most of them had already started to do just that.

Daryl handed her the mostly empty duffle and went to help T-Dog collect more gas.

Glenn was roped into helping Dale fix the RV. Rick took out the gun bag and selected a rifle for himself. Marianne eyed it and wished she had one but it'd only get in the way when looking for supplies.

She walked in front of Carol, Lori, and the kids, and scrunched her nose when she passed by the truly dead body of a woman sitting in one the cars and wondered if she opted out or was murdered. Most of the people that had fled these cars were probably dead or walkers by now, walkers that had hopefully shuffled very far away from there.

Marianne came to a stop next to an old Buick with a bunch of stuff piled on the back seat. The doors were closed but thankfully, whoever owned the car didn't take the time to lock them. She opened the driver side door to pop the trunk and that's when she spotted it. On the passenger side floor, half hidden under the seat was a semi automatic pistol.

She climbed into the car and grabbed it, making sure the safety was on. Marianne opened the glove box and just as she had predicted she found the box of bullets. She had lost track of her own gun in Atlanta and had an inkling of whose hands it had ended up in. For now, she was going to hide this find. She didn't need Rick or Shane taking it away from her, like the handgun Rick had temporarily given her for the long walk back to camp.

Rifling through bags in the back and finding a homemade first aid kit and a couple of shirts Daryl might like, Marianne heard a man's hushed voice frantically telling them to get down. Right when she looked up somebody grabbed her arm and jerked her to the ground. It was Rick. He practically rolled her underneath a car and she scooted out of the way so he could get under too. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were hiding from.

"Walkers," he mouthed to her. She nodded and then wondered if her breathing had always been this loud.

She couldn't decide what was worse, the sound of dragging feet on the asphalt or the distinct, eerily soft groaning that walkers made while mindlessly ambling through the world. On second thought, the groaning. Definitely the groaning.

The march of death seemed to go on forever. She hadn't seen how many were coming so she couldn't even estimate when this nightmarish situation would be over. This was the first time she wasn't grateful that walkers were slow.

After an eternity, no more walkers came but they all stayed under the vehicles waiting for them to get to a safe distance away from the group. Rick was breathing heavily beside her and preoccupied with looking at his son.

All of a sudden she heard Sophia cry out and the groaning of not one but two straggling walkers getting excited for their next meal. Rick grabbed his rifle and began scooting out from under the car. Marianne followed right behind him as fast as she could crawl out of the confined space. By the time she stood up Rick had already taken off.

She sprinted after Rick and Sophia. Why? She couldn't tell you what compelled her to take action while everyone else that saw what was happening just stood there and watched the girl disappear into the tree line. Maybe because it was more than one walker and Rick needed help. She didn't think he had a weapon on him other than his gun. Idiot. He should always have something else on him. She gripped her knife tightly as she vaulted over the metal railing. Marianne would tell him off later, after Sophia was safe.

She followed them the best she could but they had a good head start. Marianne kept losing Rick in between the trees and the overgrown bushes but didn't dare call out to him. He didn't need the distraction.

She heard a small scream and changed direction, running as fast as she could and trusting in herself that she wouldn't fall over something. Next she heard a splash and slightly altered her course. Soon she came upon a creek and heard Rick's low voice. Marianne carefully eased her way into the water.

"This is how we both survive, you understand?"

"Rick," she whispered as she walked towards them.

"What are you doing here?" He sounded displeased and relieved at the same time.

"Helping. I'll take care of Sophia."

"Take her back to the highway. Keep the sun on your left shoulder," he told her and Sophia.

"I know how to get back. Now go." Marianne entered the small cave made by erosion and tree roots. She held Sophia close to her. The two walkers had finally made it to the creek and Rick baited them.

"Come on!" He splashed water towards the walkers. "You ugly son of a bitch. Come on!"

One of the walkers fell into the creek bed and Marianne felt Sophia grab onto her shirt. Rick took off and the walkers followed. She waited a little while longer before exiting the cave first and looked around. The coast was clear and she motioned for Sophia to come out.

"Okay, we're gonna make our way back to your mom. How's that sound?" Sophia nodded, too frightened to speak. Marianne climbed out of the creek first and then pulled Sophia up out of the water.

She grabbed Sophia's arm and started running back to the highway as fast the girl could go. Without warning a walker stumbled out of the woods and into their path, quickly spotting them. Sophia screamed. Marianne had to let go of her to dispatch the walker. When she finished she turned around to grab Sophia again but saw her running back towards where they had come from.

"Sophia! Stop!" She ran after the girl and caught up to her at the creek.

"You can't just run away like that. Now come on," she said trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

But before they could start running again, two more walkers appeared. She could only assume all of these walkers had broken away from the others.

"Shit. I need you get out of the way but stay where I can see you." Sophia stood there clutching her doll, frozen with fear.

"Go!" Sophia flinched but moved further away from danger. She didn't like yelling at the poor girl. Her daddy did enough of that when he was alive.

Marianne gave the walkers her full attention. Walking through the dense undergrowth made them slow. Their groaning intensified as they got closer and the noise made her heart beat faster in anticipation.

The first one reached her and she didn't hesitate to plunge the knife into its eye socket. Marianne pulled the knife out, ready to take on the next one, but the dead walker had other plans. It fell towards her and she took a step backwards only to catch her heel on a tree root and fall straight onto her back. A jolt went through her head as it hit a rock and she cried out. Dazed and in pain she desperately wriggled her way out from under the large dead walker as the other one closed in on her.

There was no time to stand up. Marianne tripped the walker by kicking its ankle and it crashed face first next to her. Still determined to eat her it reached out and tightly grabbed her hair. It was on her left side, which was fortunate. Marianne swung her right arm around her, aiming the knife at the walker's head. Fading fast, she missed her mark. Marianne growled. This was not how she was going to die. She refused to leave Daryl behind.

She lifted her arm and took aim again. With all the strength she had left she stabbed the walker's head. The grip on her hair loosened. Marianne saw black speckles and knew she couldn't fight it. Wishing and hoping that someone would find her before any other walker decided to have a picnic, she slipped into darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Rick was having a bad day. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell Daryl about the unconscious woman he was carrying through the forest as fast as his tired legs would move. He tried his best not to jostle her around. He didn't know how seriously she was hurt but he couldn't not move her. Rick wasn't going to leave her alone and helpless.

He briefly looked down at her face and noticed his shirt was stained with her blood. Right when he looked back up, he heard a groan. He stopped and looked down at her again.

"Marianne?" But she didn't respond so he kept going.

He was almost at the highway. All that was left was to climb up the small hill he had earlier rolled down. Everyone was gathered at the metal railing but that quickly changed as Daryl jumped down from the hood of a car and leapt over the railing. He ran down the hill towards him.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. I found her like this." Rick was trying to catch his breath.

"What do you mean you found her?"

"I left her with Sophia but Sophia was gone and Marianne was lying on the ground next to two dead walkers."

"Give her to me." Rick reluctantly handed her over, not wanting to move her head more than necessary, but Daryl would be able to get her to the RV faster.

The two men climbed up to the highway. Rick struggled and even Daryl slipped a couple of times but managed to stay upright. They reached the top and Rick looked at the group but didn't spot the person he was searching for. Before he could ask where Sophia was, questions were being thrown at him.

"Oh my God. What happened?"

"Is she all right?"

"How bad is she hurt?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Did a walker get her?"

He tried his best to answer but he couldn't wait any longer. "Where's Sophia?"

The group stopped talking and stared at him.

"She's not back?" Rick's heart sunk. Carol dropped to the ground, sobbing. His son was getting ready to cry, realizing his friend was still gone. He had failed.

Rick was having a really bad day.

* * *

 

Daryl gently put her down on a bed in the RV. It looked like her head had stopped bleeding, so that was good, but she hadn't regained consciousness and this worried him. He cursed under his breath. This was the second time in less than week that his baby sister was injured. Before all of this she'd never had accidents. Not even a single one in all the times they went hunting. Not once had she accidently cut herself or sprained an ankle. The worse she'd got were some bug bites and a sunburn.

"How's she doing?" Dale asked from behind him.

"How do you think?" Dale ignored Daryl's hostile tone.

"I've brought you our first aid kit and a fresh towel to put her head on, to try to keep the wound clean. We don't have much in the way of bandages."

Daryl took the items without thanking him. He was too worked up for pleasantries and it's not like he was that polite when in a good mood anyways.

He did the best he could. He knelt next to the bed and cleaned the gash with an antiseptic wipe and put some antibiotic cream on it but it looked like it might need stitches. He gingerly pressed a small square of gauze to cover the wound but didn't tape it since it'd just pull her hair when they needed to take it off.

Someone else came into the RV and he turned around to see Lori and Rick.

"Daryl, I know this is a bad time but we need your help to look for Sophia. I'm headin' back to where I left her and maybe you can track her from there."

Daryl couldn't say no. He wanted to stay with his sister but a little girl was still missing and there wasn't much left to do for Marianne.

"I'll go."

Rick gave him a strained smile. "Okay, let's head out."

"Don't worry. We'll take real good care of her while you're gone," Lori said sympathetically.

Rick led Daryl and Shane to the creek where he'd last seen Sophia and found Marianne. Close to their destination they came across a dead walker.

"They must have tried to make a run for it. Looks like it got in their way," Daryl said.

"But then why was she back at the creek?" Rick asked. Daryl studied the ground and saw a jumble of footprints and shrugged. He'd need more than that to come to a conclusion he'd be willing to share.

Arriving at the creek they saw two more dead walkers. "This is where I found her. In between those two." He pointed at the walkers. There was space between them just big enough for Marianne to fit. Her knife was still in a walker head and Daryl retrieved it. It was her favorite one.

Daryl looked around at the scene. "My guess is Sophia ran back here when Marianne was dealing with that walker back there and she followed Sophia and they met these two bastards. Sophia must've run off again. It shouldn't be too hard to find her tracks."

* * *

 

Someone wet was carrying her and breathing hard. She could feel a pounding heartbeat just out of sync with her own. Her head. Oh God, her head.

The bruised side of her face was leaning against a shoulder. It was throbbing again but now the back of her head hurt even worse than getting hit with a baseball bat. She groaned in pain but before she could open her eyes she was out again.

The next time she woke up she was on a somewhat familiar bed.

Her eyes fluttered open and she found Lori smiling down at her. The woman then promptly disappeared.

"She's awake," Lori called out of the RV door. Marianne heard quick footsteps and Dale appeared looking as happy as Lori did.

"Well, thank goodness for that."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." She tried to sit up but winced and Lori gently pushed her back down.

"Don't get up. You've got a big cut on the back of your head and we don't have it wrapped up. We're trying to find something clean."

As if on cue Glenn ran into the RV. "I've got it. I think it's clean. At least, it smells like it is." He held up a wife beater that was long enough to tie around her head. Glenn spotted Marianne and smiled. All of this smiling was annoying the hell out of her. She closed her eyes.

"Marianne, you need to keep your eyes open. We don't want you falling asleep yet," Dale said. She groaned in protest but opened them anyways.

"Can you at least close the blinds? I've got a splittin' headache." Lori closed them and pulled the curtains shut. "Where's Daryl?"

"Him and Rick are out looking for Sophia."

This got Marianne's attention. "She didn't make it back?"

Lori shook her head sadly. "No, but I'm sure they'll find her."

"It's my fault," she said. "I should've just run instead of taking on those walkers."

"It's not your fault. You did what anyone else would've done. You didn't need walkers chasing after you and Sophia so you dealt with them."

"More like they dealt with me." Her eyes closed of their own volition but she forced them open. "Carol must be devastated." She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a lost child.

Lori gave her a bottle of water and left her alone. T-Dog came to keep her company and make sure she didn't fall asleep but both of them were too listless to hold any kind of a conversation.

It was a little over an hour before Rick and Daryl returned. When she saw him, he was filthy and tired and smelled like walker guts, but she could tell that he was relieved to see her awake. She smiled weakly at him.

He didn't waste any time on a greeting and got straight to the point. "What exactly happened out there?"

"A giant ass walker fell on me. Forgot to yell timber and get out of the way. Guess I hit my head pretty hard." For the second time.

"Ya don't need'ta make a habit out of it."

"Believe me, I'm not plannin' on it." She wondered if Daryl had noticed she was injured both times while trying to help somebody.

"Here, I got you these from Merle's stash." He dug two pill bottles out of his pocket. "One's for pain and the other's an antibiotic."

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see Merle's drugs," she said as she uncapped each bottle and fished out the pills, swallowing the painkiller first. Daryl smirked.

"Me neither."

The pain pills knocked her out for the rest of the evening and all through the night. When she woke up that morning everyone, except for Dale and T-Dog, had left to search for Sophia. She was frustrated that she was rendered useless again. It was her fault Sophia was still missing and she should be out there too.

Marianne wasn't a big fan of being bed-ridden. She managed to at least convince Dale to help her to sit at the dinette table. If she sat with her back against the wall she could face the open door and get a view of the outside but this didn't satisfy her.

"I could've sworn I saw a camping chair out there."

"No, it's out of the question. You're staying right where you are. You'll be safer in here if more walkers wander by. And if you feel like things are startin' to go downhill, just holler and I'll come help you back to bed."

She grumbled and Dale laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Sometimes you and Daryl look exactly alike. It's uncanny. You have the same scowl," he said which made Marianne scowl which, in turn, made Dale smile wider.

Dale left to keep an eye out for walkers. She could hear his occasional footsteps on the RV roof. T-Dog went half-heartedly through a nearby car that had already been picked over but that didn't last very long.

"Ain't you supposed to be fixing that radiator? What if they come back with Sophia and Rick wants to move on right away?" T-Dog asked as he paced by the side of the RV.

"I had it fixed yesterday." Marianne heard Dale say from above her and she set her book down on the table.

"What?" T-Dog was puzzled. "What was all that rubbing and sanding for then? That's just bullshit?"

"Yeah, that's one word. Another word would be pantomime, just for show. No one else needs to know. You hear that Marianne?"

"Loud and clear. Not one word about your bullshit."

"Pantomime." T-Dog scoffed.

"If the others know we're mobile, they'll want to mobilize and move on." She didn't know why it hadn't occurred to her that anyone in the group would want to leave without Sophia. She was usually so good at seeing the worst in people.

"So you don't think they're gonna find Sophia, that it?"

"I'm just guarding against the worst. Sooner or later, if she's not found, people will start doing math. I want to hold off the 'needs of the many versus the needs of the few' argument as long as I can."

"That is one tricky hose, huh?" From that statement Marianne knew T-Dog agreed with what Dale was doing and so did she. There was no way they were going to abandon a twelve year old, especially not with the way the world was now.

"Very," Dale said. She could hear the smile in his voice.

A few hours and too many games of solitaire later Marianne had migrated to the RV steps against Dale's wishes. The pain in her head felt distant but she wasn't too groggy, having only taken half a pill when yesterday she'd taken two. She wanted to keep as much of her wits about her as she could under the circumstance.

Dale had moved on from keeping a lookout to tinkering with the cars around them. The pile of spare parts was growing by the hour.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" T-Dog asked Dale.

"Oh, it's still light. Let's not worry just yet."

"They'll want to cover as much ground as they can today," Marianne said.

"How are you two feeling?"

"Could be better," Marianne answered but T-Dog only vaguely nodded.

"T-Dog? I asked you how you were feeling just now. Please don't blow that question off."

"It really, really hurts. It's throbbing something awful."

Dale took a look at T-Dog's arm and the man cried out in pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Listen, your veins are very discolored. You got a hell of an infection there. You could die from blood poisoning."

T-Dog laughed. "Wouldn't that be the way? World gone to hell, the dead risen up to eat the living and Theodore Douglas gets done in by a cut on his arm."

"Yeah, that would be—that would be stupid. I've been saying since yesterday, we've got to, we've got to get you some antibiotics."

"Dale, you haven't been sayin' that to me. I didn't know his arm was that bad. I've got some on me right now. It's Merle's. Daryl gave them to me yesterday."

"Do you really?"

"No, I don't. I was just sayin' that to make y'all feel better through the power of positive thinking." She huffed. "Of course I do. The pills are on the bed. Give him some for pain too, while you're at it."

"Marianne."

"What?"

"I think you're my new best friend," T-Dog said.

* * *

 

Marianne was more than a little disappointed when they didn't come back with Sophia and more than a little shocked when Daryl told her Carl was shot.

"Shot? But by who?"

"I dunno." He shrugged a shoulder. "A stranger. Ain't you supposed to be in bed? And why did you take off your bandages?" He asked, referring to the strips of cloth from the cut up wife beater.

"I heal fast," she said as a matter of fact.

"Uh huh, sure you do. Are you bein' a dumbass again?"

"No, and stop callin' me that."

"Whatever… dumbass."

The siblings migrated to where the rest of the group was and started a discussion on what to do next. It was suggested they pack up and leave for the Greene farm before dark.

Carol shook her head. "I won't do it. We can't just leave."

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak," Dale argued.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol asked, looking around at them all one by one. "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful," Andrea said and Marianne nodded her head in agreement. She could only imagine what the girl would think if she found herself abandoned by the group, let alone her mother.

"Then we'll stay. At least some of us," Marianne said.

"Okay. We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies." Carol looked at Daryl gratefully. "I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."

"If the RV is staying, I am too," Dale said, changing his tune about leaving.

"Thank you. Thank you both," Carol said.

"I'm not goin' either," Marianne stated, crossing her arms.

"Me too." Andrea half raised her hand.

"No, Marianne. You need to get that head of yours looked at. Glenn will take you and T-Dog to the farm. Use Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn asked.

And at the same time Marianne said, "No way. My head'll last another night."

"Glenn, you have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, the two of them need medical attention," Dale said in a no nonsense voice. "And Marianne, you've got a head wound for crying out loud. You were unconscious. There isn't a question of whether or not you're staying. If it was my decision you wouldn't even be walking around right now."

"I need to stay. I can't leave Sophia." Not again.

Carol put a hand on her arm. "It's okay."

But it wasn't and it wouldn't be until Sophia was back, safe in her mother's arms.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"That's the turn. That's the turn," Marianne said hurriedly as she pointed at the Greene mailbox. Glenn slammed on the brakes. "I told you, you were goin' too fast."

"Sorry."

By the time they pulled up to the house Marianne was ready to sleep. All three of them got out of the car and made their way towards the picturesque white farmhouse. Marianne was sure it looked even more perfect during the day. Soft yellow light glowed in the first floor windows signaling that people were inside but they all stopped at the steps to the wraparound porch, unsure of how to proceed.

"So do we ring the bell?" Glenn asked. "I mean it looks like people live here."

"Do they even have a door bell? We should just knock." Marianne readjusted the bag on her shoulder. She looked down and frowned at the sight of large blood drops on the red brick steps.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate." T-Dog looked as tired as Marianne felt.

"We're not barbarians," she said as they walked up the steps. "We'll knock."

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" A woman's voice came from their right and Marianne looked into the shadows and saw her sitting on a rocking chair.

"Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything," Glenn said. The woman leaned forward and they could see her face better. "Hello. Nice to see you again. We, uh, met before briefly."

Marianne studied Glenn's face and then looked at the pretty brown haired woman. Someone was developing a crush, much to her amusement.

"Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" T-Dog asked.

The woman stood up and took a few steps closer to them. She looked at Marianne's face and then spotted the bloody makeshift bandage on T-Dog's arm.

"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though."

"Both of y'all look pretty banged up. We'll have that looked at." She motioned towards T-Dog's arm. "I'll tell them you're here."

"We have some antibiotics and painkillers," Marianne said, digging through her bag for the pill bottles. "He's already had some but if Carl needs 'em."

"Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." The woman opened the screen door and they all went into the house.

The inside was just as Marianne had pictured it would be with the old furniture, wood floors, and the pictures on the white walls. The young woman, whose name she found out was Maggie, led them to the bedroom Carl was in. The boy was almost as white as the sheets and he looked so vulnerable. A white haired man in suspenders was sitting on the bed checking Carl's blood pressure. His parents sat in chairs on the other side looking worried sick. Marianne felt uncomfortable, like she was intruding on something private and hung back in the doorway with Maggie.

Glenn took off his hat. "Hey," he said softly. Rick said 'hey' back. "Um, we're here, okay?"

"Thank you," Lori said.

"Whatever you need." T-Dog nodded and the three of them, plus Maggie, started to leave the room when Marianne paused, remembering something.

"Uh, if Carl needs blood, I'm O negative. Haven't done much donating in my life but I guess now's the best time as any." Rick and Lori looked at her hopefully.

The old man nodded. "I might need to take you up on that offer."

"But you're head," Rick said, frown lines appearing on his forehead.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Thank you," Lori said again. Marianne nodded at the anxious parents.

Maggie led them to the dining room where Marianne and T-Dog sat down. A blonde woman, who introduced herself as Patricia, came in with supplies to clean and stitch up T-Dog's arm.

"Check her head first." T-Dog pointed at Marianne.

"Well, aren't you the gentleman," Patricia said.

"Nah, stitch him up first. His cut is way bigger than mine."

"What happened to your head?" Maggie asked.

"Got into a fight with a rock and lost. The bruise is a different story."

Patricia took a look at her wound while Maggie set up everything Patricia needed.

"It's not too deep. It must not have been a very sharp rock. You're lucky you didn't crack your skull." Marianne flinched as the woman examined it. "You'll need a couple of stitches. We won't even have to shave the hair around it."

Patricia changed gloves and moved on to T-Dog. Maggie had to hold down his arm while Patricia worked carefully but efficiently on it. He was breathing heavily and grunting in pain.

"You should've taken another painkiller," Marianne said.

"You didn't."

"I only need two stitches. She'll be finished before I even know she started." Marianne was glad that she wouldn't be able to see the needle as Patricia worked on her head.

"You got here right in time." Patricia said as she was nearing the last few stitches. "This couldn't go untreated much longer. Merle Dixon. Is that your friend with the antibiotics?"

"My brother. He's not around anymore."

"Not sure I'd call him a friend."

"He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was takin' it for?"

"You really don't want to know. I sure didn't."

"What was it?" Glenn asked. He sounded interested despite Marianne's warning.

"The clap."

The interest in Glenn's face fell away. He glanced furtively at Maggie, looking embarrassed by the answer. He probably wished he hadn't asked.

"I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you," Patricia told T-Dog, whose face was contorted by pain.

* * *

 

Daryl pointed his flashlight at face of the woman walking beside him and scoffed.

"You got that look on your face same as everybody else. What the hell's wrong with you people? We just started looking."

"Well, do you think we'll find her?" Andrea asked, sounding skeptical that he believed they'd really find Sophia.

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time." Daryl swept the light across the ground in front of him keeping an eye out for signs of Sophia.

"She's only twelve."

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak."

"They found you?" Andrea asked.

Daryl shook his head. "My old man was off on a bender with Marianne's mom. Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight to the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched somethin' awful."

Andrea snorted and tried to smother her amusement. "I'm sorry. That is a terrible story."

Andrea laughed anyways and Daryl joined her. "Only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage."

"You said 'Marianne's mom,' so is she your half sister?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing." Andrea shrugged. "You two seem close. It must be nice."

Daryl guessed this turn in the conversation had something to do with Amy.

"Her mom died when she was young. Our dad couldn't be bothered and it's not like Merle was around much. For awhile it was just the two of us." He knew what it was like to be left behind by an older brother and had vowed to himself he'd never do that to her.

_Daryl accidently slammed the front door when he came home._

" _Boy, get in here." He sighed and followed his dad's voice, waiting to get yelled at. There was a little girl with the biggest blue eyes sitting at their tiny dining room table._

" _Who's this?"_

" _Your sister."His dad opened another beer._

" _I don't have a sister."_

" _You do now."_

_Her eyes were shining with the silent tears that ran down her face and rolled right off her cheeks, making two damp spots on the front of her dress. He stared at her and she met his gaze straight on and unafraid. She was just sad._

" _Why's she crying?"_

" _Her mom's dead. You think I have her here because I want her? I don't need one more mouth to feed."_

_He glared at the back of his dad's head. It's not like he went out of his way to feed him._

" _You hungry?"Daryl asked her quietly. She nodded her small head and looked up at him hopefully. "Alright, I'll make you a sandwich." The little girl smiled at him. "What's your name?" he asked her as he took out two slices of bread._

" _Marianne."_

" _Marianne?" She nodded. "That's a big name for a little thing like you. Mind if I call you Annie?"_

" _No, don't." She paused. Another tear ran down her face and she wiped it away. "My mom calls me that."_

' _Calls' and not 'called.' Daryl felt a tug on his heart. Merle would tell him he was soft but he wasn't here right now._

" _Alright, Marianne it is."_

* * *

 

Marianne was sitting at the dining room table again having finished giving all of the blood Hershel would let her. There was only so much her blood could do for Carl now. She picked up a glass of orange juice with shaky hands and tried not to spill it.

"You look like crap."

"Thanks, T. So do you." She took a small sip of juice.

"But what you did, that was cool." T-Dog nodded approvingly.

"I hope it helps."

"It will."

Patricia rushed past the dining room wheeling a large metal surgical table.

"They must be doin' the surgery," Marianne said.

"But Shane and Otis aren't back yet."

"Maybe they don't have a choice. Maybe he's gotten worse." Carl couldn't die, not with Sophia missing. They couldn't lose two children in the span of a couple of days. Marianne didn't think the group would survive after that. Rick would be devastated and they'd fall apart. She was smart enough to know that he was the one holding them together, even if the others hadn't quite realized that yet.

She knew she didn't have a way to help anymore but she couldn't just sit there doing nothing. She slowly stood up, grabbed her orange juice and went to sit on the porch to keep a look out for Otis and Shane.

Seconds after she sat down she spotted headlights in the distance. "They're here!" She yelled as she got up too fast and almost tipped over, spilling half of her orange juice across the porch but she didn't care. Marianne went as fast as she could into the house. "They're back!"

The blue truck pulled up to the house. Hershel, Rick and Lori ran past her, onto the porch and then into the yard to meet Otis and Shane. Glenn, T-Dog, and Maggie joined her on the porch.

The driver side door swung open and Shane got out of the truck. He was sweaty and breathing hard. Hershel and Glenn each took a bag from the exhausted man.

Hershel looked at the empty truck. "Otis?"

"No." Shane shook his head. There was a pause as it sunk in that he was dead.

"We say nothing to Patricia. Not 'til after. I need her." Hershel and Glenn went running into the house with the supplies.

Marianne stayed outside. Rick and Lori sat down on the porch steps together. Shane remained by the truck, sitting on the ground in front of it. T-Dog sat in the rocking chair only after offering it to Marianne, who declined and sat on the porch railing across from him instead and leaned against one of the posts.

She didn't know how long they all waited but eventually Hershel came out, followed by Maggie and Glenn. Everyone stood up, eager to hear the news.

"He seems to have stabilized," Hershel said. Rick let out a huge sigh of relief and hugged Hershel.

"I don't have words," Lori said tearfully.

"I don't either. Wish I did. How do I tell Patricia about Otis?" The atmosphere suddenly went from happy to uncomfortable.

"You go to Carl," Rick told Lori. "I'll go with Hershel."

Everyone except Shane went inside. Marianne could easily hear Patricia's wailing from the kitchen while sitting in the living room. Her head felt like it would float away any minute now and as the minutes passed she thought it really would.

Patricia's crying was subsiding. It had moved from the kitchen to upstairs. Rick walked in, coming in the direction of Carl's room.

"How are you?" Rick asked, looking dog-tired.

"I'll live. How's Carl doin'?" Her voice sounded so distant.

"He'll live."

"That's good to hear."

"He'll be bed ridden for awhile."

"He'll love that, a kid his age. I'm supposed to be stuck in here for a day and I'm already goin' stir crazy."

"'Supposed to' being the key phrase here."

"I never promised I would."

"Don't push yourself too hard." A shadow of concern crossed Rick's face. It was strange having someone besides Daryl worry about her.

"I won't. This time I don't have to account for the wrath of Merle." It was supposed to be a joke but she made herself sad. She bit her lip and looked away from Rick.

"Thank you."

Marianne didn't get a chance to say anything before he left to be with his son again but she probably wouldn't have anyways. She stretched out on the sofa the Greene's had graciously offered to her for what was left of the night. It was late and she could barely keep her eyes open. As soon as she closed them, she fell asleep.

 


	9. Chapter 9

It was either the smell of breakfast or a bad dream that woke her up. She jerked awake, momentarily confused that she was in a house sleeping on a couch. During the night someone had put a light blanket over her but now it was too hot for it so she pushed it aside as she groggily sat up. She stretched and wondered if anybody had ibuprofen or aspirin. The few hours of sleep had done wonders but, unsurprisingly, her head still hurt.

After being offered breakfast and eating it, she helped clean up the plates and the kitchen. It was the least she could do after their hospitality.

Against Hershel's advice, she stubbornly helped collect rocks for Otis' funeral with Hershel's people, T-Dog, Glenn, and Shane. T-Dog would only let her pick up small rocks. When she reached for a big one he always beat her to it. She finally managed to pick one up when she heard the roar of a motorcycle.

They looked up to watch the rest of the group drive up the house. Marianne dropped her rock in a wheelbarrow and smiled at the sight of her brother. After Merle's errand gone wrong, she had been a little anxious to be separated from him.

Everyone gathered in front of the house, the general mood being they were happy to be back together. A few people exchanged hugs. Brother and sister, unaccustomed to physical displays of affection, simply stood next to each other.

"You look worse than when you left the highway. How is that even possible?" Daryl looked frustrated.

"Carl needed blood so I gave him some."

"With you hurt?"

"I'm an adult, Daryl. I needed to do something. I couldn't help…" Marianne trailed off. She couldn't bring herself say it out loud but Daryl seemed to understand.

"Let me see your head." She turned around and she could feel Daryl gently pulling aside some hair. He grunted in approval.

"Too bad you won't be able'ta show off your kickass new scar," he joked.

"That's exactly what I was worried about."

It wasn't long before it was time for Otis' funeral. Hershel's people and the group stood in a half circle next to a large pile of rocks that stood in place of Otis' grave since his body couldn't be retrieved. One by one, they each put a rock on top of the pile. Hershel began a prayer for Otis.

Marianne wondered what her mother's funeral had been like. She couldn't even remember if she had attended. Her grandparents were dead. Her mother was an only child and didn't have any family as far as she knew. It's how she had ended up with her dad, the awful man.

"We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." Hershel finished his speech.

Her mom hadn't lived in grace. In fact, from what she was told, and by some people's standards, she'd lived in sin. It was how she came to exist. Marianne felt sorry for her, a single mother working two jobs but barely making ends meet, who couldn't even afford to go to the hospital and ended up dead because of it.

Hershel asked Shane to say a few words about Otis, but Shane declined looking uncomfortable with the idea.

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning," Patricia pleaded.

Shane looked tragically comical, in Otis' overalls and shirt that were far too big for him, trying to find the words to talk about a man's gruesome end but, after a short pause, he managed to start. It was a nice speech, a little too nice. Marianne didn't know whether to contribute that to the tendency for people to not speak ill of the dead or that there was something more to his story, but it seemed to give some comfort to Patricia and she decided that that was what counted.

* * *

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

"This'll be day three," Rick answered.

Maggie walked up to the car that the two men plus Marianne, Daryl, Andrea, and Shane were standing around. She unrolled a large map on the hood and placed rocks on it to hold it down. "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized," Rick said. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out," Hershel said and then looked across the hood at Shane. "And your ankle, push it now, you'll be laid up a month. No good to anybody." He looked at Marianne. "And you not only gave blood, you've got stitches in your head. And against my recommendation, you haven't been resting." He was right but Marianne looked at him like she'd done nothing wrong.

"Guess it's just me," Daryl said. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back," Shane said.

"I'll go with you." Marianne ignored the stern look Hershel gave her. She didn't want to be around Shane but since she couldn't trek through the woods looking for Sophia, this was almost the next best thing.

"Alright, tomorrow then. We'll start doin' this right," Rick said.

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them," Shane said and Rick nodded.

"I prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane made a good point. The farm had survived up to this point in time but the large group of walkers on the highway proved it was only a matter of time before a herd passed by and possibly through the farm.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we  _will_  respect that." Rick gave a pointed look at Shane. He placed his Colt on the hood of the car and Shane followed suit with his own gun but didn't look too pleased about it. "First things first— set camp, find Sophia."

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to." Shane was getting pissy. That was Marianne's cue to leave. She walked away but was still able to hear what Shane asked. What if Sophia was bit? The thought had crossed her mind a couple of times only to be stamped out of existence. They'd find Sophia and she would be just fine.

She walked over to Glenn, who was messing around with a tent pole.

"Need help?"

"No, I got it," Glenn said, looking slightly perplexed at the tent pole in his hand.

"Let me rephrase that. I'm goin' to help."

"Are you sure you're okay to—"

"I'm not made of glass. Besides, if I don't do anything useful I'm goin' to go crazy. You don't want to see that, do you?" Marianne joked.

"No, uh, that sounds unpleasant." Sometimes he took things too literally.

"Glenn?"

"Yeah?"

"That was a joke," she explained. "I do tend to make one every now and then."

Both of them were putting the rest of poles together when Lori called Glenn over. She was wrangling with a larger tent and needed help. Marianne was working on pushing a second pole into place when Carol came over and held the tent steady for her.

"Me and Shane are goin' to the highway later. I'm guessin' you wanna come."

"I do. I really do."

Marianne gave Carol half a smile and moved onto the next tent and then to another. She was hammering stakes into the ground when she looked up to see Glenn spying on someone or something with Shane's binoculars. Her best bet was on Maggie. She chuckled when she saw Lori startle him.

"Here's your list. And, um, there's one other item. I wrote it down separately. It's personal. If we could be real discreet about that, okay?"

Marianne thought Lori had seen her nearby but apparently not. So much for being discreet.

"Uh, what is it?" Marianne hammered a little faster and louder.

"Kind of missing the point of the whole discreet thing, Glenn."

"Oh, right. Um… I just need to know where to find it." Marianne stood up; maybe they'd see her now. Nope. Didn't work.

"Try the feminine hygiene section." Marianne sighed and went to put the hammer away. Lori smiled at her as she walked by.

They had finished setting up all of the tents and were moving on to setting up the rest of the camp when T-Dog and Dale came over to tell them there was a walker stuck in a well.

* * *

Dale kept the flashlight pointed into the well as Andrea, T-Dog, Glenn, Marianne, Lori, Maggie and Shane stood around it, looking down at the slimy walker clawing fruitlessly at the stone wall.

"We got to get it out," Shane said.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head," T-Dog suggested. "I'll get a rope."

"Whoa, whoa, guys. No," Maggie said.

"Why not?" Glenn asked. "It's a good plan."

"It's a stupid plan. If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job," Andrea said.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's already contaminated. Look at it, it's not just bloated, there's blood leakin' out of its face." Marianne looked distastefully down at the walker.

Shane nodded. "Andrea's right. Can't risk contaminating it even more."

"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asked.

"How do we do that?" Glenn asked.

Marianne crossed her arms. "I think ya'll are missing the point here. Even if we manage to get it out we're still not drinkin' that water."

"She's right," Lori said. "We can't risk it."

"But we can't just leave it there. Can we?" Glenn took his hat off and rubbed his forehead.

Shane looked at Maggie. "You decide. This is your family's farm."

"I say we try to get out."

"Alright then. So here's how we're gonna do this," Shane said.

Marianne didn't think it was the greatest plan. She thought it'd be better just to shoot the thing. Rope, fishing line, and a canned ham that no one was eager to eat were retrieved. They tied the ham up at the end of the fishing line, used fishing hooks to secure it, and tied a lasso knot at one end of the rope. Dale dangled the ham in front of the walker while Shane waited to slip the rope around it. The walker acted like the ham didn't exist.

"He's not going for it," Dale said.

T-Dog was pointing the flashlight down the well. "Maybe 'cause a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it."

"We need live bait." Andrea looked at Glenn who was standing next to her and his face fell when he realized what she was implying.

"No. He's not doin' it," Marianne said. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She glared at Andrea, but no one stepped up to agree with her. "Am I the only sane one around here?" She looked around at them all. "We're on a farm people. Can't you spare a chicken and a basket?" she asked Maggie. Glenn looked gratefully at Marianne.

"Now that's not a bad idea," Dale said.

"It's better than putting Glenn's life on the line, literally," Lori said.

Maggie commandeered a chicken, which they ended up tying up in a net so the walker could not only hear it, but see it too. They lowered the chicken into the well and the walker excitedly reached up for it. It took some maneuvering but Shane managed to slip the rope onto it and they slowly started to pull it up.

"Almost there. Come on, pull. Keep it coming," T-Dog directed. The walker's head appeared from out of the well. "Nice and easy. Just a little more." Half of its body was soon out. "Come on, almost there." T-Dog took a step back, covering his nose. "It's stuck! Come on."

Andrea, Shane, Dale, and Glenn pulled even harder. The walker was snarling and incensed. All of a sudden, it ripped in two, guts spilled onto the ground and the bottom half fell back into the well. The walker, undeterred by its weight loss, flailed on the ground reaching out for the nearest human.

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it," T-Dog said.

* * *

Marianne was grateful Andrea volunteered to come to the highway too. She sat in the front with Shane, who was driving, and Marianne sat in the back with Carol. The car ride was silent and as soon as they arrived Carol went straight to the car that had the sign and supplies.

She stood on the hood of a nearby car, giving Carol some space and keeping an eye out for walkers and Sophia, although deep down she knew it was unlikely. It was easy for a kid to get lost when all the trees looked the same to them. She'd be huddled in the woods somewhere or, with any luck, in a farmhouse or barn.

Shane and Andrea loitered by the car they had come in and held a brief conversation in low voices, something about guns and shooting practice, before leaning on a car across from Carol.

A little over an hour had passed when Andrea stood next to the grieving mother and put a hand on her back, trying to comfort her.

"We'll come again tomorrow. You know there's always the chance—"

"Don't. I really don't need to hear it anymore, Andrea. Save the thoughts and prayers," Carol said and Andrea walked away.

"You never—" Shane started but Marianne cut him off.

"Leave it Shane." He shot her look before following after Andrea.

"You want me to take a walk?" Marianne asked but Carol shook her head, a few tears running down her face.

"I haven't thanked you yet, for what you did."

"There's nothin' to thank me for." Marianne turned her back on Carol under the pretense of looking down the other direction of the highway.

"Me and you have more in common than people might think," Carol said suddenly. Marianne didn't like where this was headed. There was a long pause. "Who was it?"

"No one," she lied, but then she realized, just by already knowing what Carol was talking about, she had given herself away. Marianne shifted her weight between her legs looking everywhere but at Carol and began to chew her bottom lip. She was relieved when Carol decided not to take the conversation any further.

Andrea and Shane returned from who knows where and they drove back to the farm. Marianne watched the tree as they whizzed by. The drive was silent again and a dismal mood hung over them.

When they got back to the farm, she sat in camping chair by the fire. Everyone was busy around her. Her head hurt more than it would have if she had rested like Hershel told her to, but she didn't regret not laying down all day.

When Daryl came back he walked right by everyone without a glance and went into the RV. She was relieved to see him. She waited for him to come out and after a couple of minutes he walked out of the RV and over to Marianne, who stood up ready to hear any news.

"Find anything?"

"Yeah, a rundown old house. Someone was sleeping in the pantry, someone Sophia's size. And there was a can of sardines opened not too long ago."

She nodded. "That's something then. She's alive."

Night descended on them and Marianne had a quick dinner around the main campfire with Daryl and Glenn. Daryl didn't talk. Glenn wouldn't stop talking but when Marianne asked him how the pharmacy run went he got nervous and gave her a vague answer and she wondered if something had happened between him and Maggie.

She was going to her tent to turn in for the night when, in the distance, she saw a woman walking away from the camp and into the dark. It took her a few seconds to recognize her and it took her less than a second to come to a decision. She followed Lori. Marianne didn't care that they were on a farm surrounded by fences, it still wasn't safe.

Lori was crouched on the ground with her head down and she was able to sneak up on her without even trying. "You can't wander off in the dark. It's a good way to get yourself killed." Lori nearly jumped out of her skin. "See? I could've been a walker."

"There are fences everywhere."

"Fences break. Do you even have a knife?" Lori shook her head and Marianne let out a sound of frustrated disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I came out here for some privacy." Lori was starting to sound aggravated.

"Privacy isn't worth your life. But I'll turn around, watch your back for ya, and you can do whatever it is that's so secret." Marianne saw Lori trying to hide something long, skinny and white in her hand. It suddenly clicked. She had wanted something from the feminine hygiene section Glenn hadn't recognized. She quickly turned around, pretending she hadn't seen it but it was too late.

"Don't tell Rick."


End file.
